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EVERY GAME WE’VE EVER PLAYED — RATED INSIDE!

MIDWAY

www.midway.com

4H Hi:**

IT’S A DIRTY J011, BUT
SOMEBODY’S GOTTA DO IT.

The Army Men® franchise
makes its smash debut on
Sega Dreamcast*! As Sarge,
you must undertake 16
daredevil missions to rescue
your Commandos from the
clutches of General Plastro
and the evil Tan army.

An arsenal of explosive
weaponry is at your
fingertips, including M-60
machine guns, bazookas,
sniper rifles, flamethrowers,
grenade launchers, and
more. For a little RE*R, play
battle mode with up to
three friends, choosing from
nine different characters.
Only you can bring peace to
the Plastic World again.
Good luck, soldier!

Oh, and watch your step.

Dreamcast,

ARMY MEN® SARGE'S HEROES' © 2000 The 3D0 Company. All rights reserved. 3D0, Army Men, Sarge’s Heroes, and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of The 300 Company
in the U.S. and/or other countries. MIDWAY and the Midway logos are trademarks of Midway Amusement Games, LLC. Used by permission. Published and distributed by Midway Home Entertainment Inc.
under license from The 300 Company. Sega, Dreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Sega Enterprises Ltd.

Not all sports live up to the name Extreme

Welcome to the world of full contact, high octane, Ktreme Sports.

Choose from six different alternative sports as you battle your way through a challenging triple-event competition. It's
a pulse pounding race against time... and some hardcore opponents. Master tons of intense tricks in hand-to-hand
racing combat. So leave your rule book at home. Adrenaline is the only fuel you'll need!

Dreamcast .

r.HE CKMATE

by Infogrames Entertainment. S.A. Xtreme Sports and Infogrames are trademarks of Infogrames Entertainment SkA.

istered trademarks or traclemarf

>wners. Sega, Dreamcast, and the Dreamcast loc

COMING SOON

SOUL REAVER 2_62

WHAT A CROP OF FEATURES WE HAVE ■ WE’RE TAKING GAME PREVIEWS

FOR YOU THIS MONTH! ■ WHERE GAME PREVIEWS ARE GOING

>HO-HO-HOLIDAY
DREAMING 30

Better than watching It’s a Wonderful
Life or a replay of the Macy’s parade on
a sleepy, tryptophan-fueled Thanks-
giving afternoon for getting you into
the holiday spirit, our massive
gift guide super-spectacular has
the best bags of swag, the worst
lumps of coal, and everything else
you need to know for the best
Dreamcast holiday ever. There’s even a
Christmas comic for good measure!

>RPG MANIA 42

Skies of Arcadia. Grandia II. Grandia II.
Skies of Arcadia. Need we say more?

Yes? Okay. We bring you complete, in-
depth (as in, many pages each) reviews
by ODCM’s resident roleplaying expert
extraordinaire, our own Francesca Danger
Reyes. Did we mention that Danger is her
middle name?

GUILTY GEAR X 60

The cult of 2D fighting gets another entry
into its pantheon on Dreamcast, as a
sublime, high-resolution 2D fighter gets
ready for Japanese release.

SOUL REAVER 2 62

What’s worse than a reanimated vampire
who’s crawled his way up from the depths
of Hell? A reanimated vampire who’s
crawled his way up from the depths of Hell
and is really pissed off...

COASTER WORKS 64

Get direction from the park owner. Build
coaster in 3D. Ride coaster. Vomit. Very,
very original, and very, very cool. (Hint: try
not to make the cars fly off the tracks.)

RESIDENT EVIL 3 65

Veronica not enough? Capcom's got plenty
more survival horror goodness for us,
starting with this prequel. Prepare to be
scared out of your wits.

CHICKEN RUN 66

Like chicken pot pie? Don’t play this: your
goal is to help the beautifully animated
chickens escape from the death camp
they’ve been born into.

EVIL DEAD 2 73

Ash. The Necronomicon. Bruce Campbell.

A man fighting against his possessed
hand. The greatest cult horror movie ever
gets the Dreamcast treatment.

BANG! GUNSHIP ELITE 73

Fight the good fight in space. At least we
think it’s the good fight. In any case, you
have rad beam weapons, so who really
cares why you’re fighting?

SONIC SHUFFLE 74

Sonic and gang enter the thrilling world of
mini-game madness! Party fun for
everyone ensues.

CHARGE’N BLAST 76

Lots of explosions. Lots of giant guns. Lots
of you making giant explosions with giant
guns. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.

IRON ACES 77

Flying in the Pacific in World War II against
the Imperial Air Force is a test of skill,
endurance, and adrenelin tolerance. Cool.

BANGAI-0 77

Oh, baby. Bring on the oldskool shooting
action with the treasure in Treasure’s hard-
core line-up. We can almost smell the
power-ups from here.

>DC-ROM 06

Why just read about the latest Dreamcast
goodies when you can actually play some
too? Exactly. Check out the Disc page, to
find out what’s on the latest demo GD-
ROM, a combined effort of the ODCM staff
and Sega of America, crafted with pride in
the “multimedia gulch" of San Francisco.

>D-MAIL 08

So important it’s delivered to us by a uni-
formed representitive of the State, your
comments, questions, complaints and
compliments always get top priority here at
the ODCM world headquarters in scenic
Brisbane. Ahh, sweet Brisbane— the pride
of San Mateo County, California, and truly
the City of the Stars.

>ENDZONE 111

This was going to be all about a prima
donna freelance reviewer who demanded
rides to work in order to actually get his
copy in, but then didn't even take screens,
and then handed in everything late, but we
decided that just wasn’t cool to write
about. Instead, it’s some funny stuff.

Check it out.

® 1

| | . . J|

Jr,/ A

TESTZONE

A MASSIVE CROP OF GREAT GAMES
GETS REAPED IN THIS ISSUE

TONY HAWK PRO SKATER 2 78

-:|>j Ok, you know how good this one is.

METROPOLIS STREET RACER 84

j Real racing on real streets. Really.

SEGA MARINE FISHING 86

: What other game lets you catch nearly
re extinct Coelacanth fossil fish? None other
II fishing games.

LOONEY TUNES
SPACE RACE 87

p 1 ' Awesome toon-shaded racing that feels
H like a real cartoon. Solid.

CAPCOMVS. SNK88

■ 0 . The dream of all 2D fighting fans is finally
pi answered.

STARLANCER90

1 1 frEh It’s like SpaceWar! in space. With
RfiHPr multiplayer, of course.

SAMBA DE AMIGO 92

Ml Shake your maraca. Shake your Amigo.
fBshake your booty all night long.

*RED DOG 93

Tank combat “tanken” to the next level.
Sorry. That was punny, though, no? Oh.

QUAKE III 96

The ultimate 3D shootfest comes home.
And goes online.

XTREME SPORTS 96

Boarding. Bungie-ing (is that a word?),
ATV-ing. Hang gliding. In a tossed-salad
rally mix.

POD: SPEED ZONE 97

Online futuristic racing from Ubi Soft. Did
we mention it’s online?

TEST DRIVE LEMANS 98

Oh my god. A great Test Drive? You bet.
This, is the absolute real deal. A better
closed-track racing game we’ve not seen.

HOW TO

BECOME MORE POWERFUL THAN
YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE!

IT'S A CODE
EXPLOSION!

Cheaters never prosper. Unless they
read this wonderful magazine, and get
the lowdown and the down low on how
to beat, cheat, trick and fake out the
toughest games in the Dreamcast
universe. This month we expose:

Wacky Races, Fur Fighters, ESPN:

Int’l Track and Field, Sega Bass
Fishing, Rush 2049, Aerowings 2,

NBA Showtime, and Magforce Racing

4X4 EVOLUTION ioo

Free-wheelin’ four-wheelin’, with online
goodness to boot.

STAR WARS: DEMOLITION 101

Bad on PlayStation. Good on Dreamcast?
We’re not going to tell you here. Turn to ^
page 101 for the final results.

TEST ZONE
ARCHIVE 104

Every DC game rated! Right here,
right now! Who loves ya, baby?

Holiday

Notes

ANOTHER MONTH, another free (for
subscribers, anyway) Bonus Issue. And
what an issue it is...

The Dreamcast market is
glowing white hot right now, and
it shows in this issue... Two 10s.

Five 9s. More 8s than I can count.

We practically didn’t have the score
budget to even give that many
high scores.

With so many sweet games out
this time of year, it’s tough to know
just what to ask for during this holiday
season. Why is it so tough? Because,
face it, it’s a little embarassing to ask
for $500 or $600 worth of software,
which is what you’re going to need to
get every good DC game that’ll be out
before the end of the year. We feel your
pain (and your greed for games).

To make things a little easier, we’ve
picked the best of the best, chosen a
few other goodies small enough to fit in
a stocking, and cited some nuggets of
coal to avoid— and wrapped it up in a
beautiful package for you starting on
page 30 (The subscription card in this
issue should have some little Sonic
stickers on it. Grab those and stick ’em
on the games you really need. Circle
the rest— the ones you just really, really
want— and pass the mag on to your
most cash-infused loved one).

Oh, and since you’ll probably have
some time off over the holidays, it’s the
perfect time for some heavy RPG love—
especially since there are two amazing
new RPGs on Dreamcast to love.
Grandia II and Skies of Arcadia. Check
out our massive 13-page guide to the
most beautiful role-playing games ever,
beginning on page 42.

Okay, that’s it. Happy Holidays!

—Chris

True Story: Three days ago, Fran's mom offered to
pay for a manicure/hand-spa session for her
because she was so freaked out by Fran's
“D-pad" thumb callus.

ITS EVEN WRAPPED!

This is ODCM’s gift to you— a spiffy disc packed with action-packed, rip-roaring demos and
movies of no less than TEN highly anticipated Dreamcast titles. So don’t say we never gave you
anything for Christmas but a kink in your neck from reading, okay?

We’ve teased you throughout the past year with the hazy outlines of two of the biggest RPGs
ever to come to Dreamcast-Phantasy Star Online and Grandia II — and the exclusive movies on
this disc will finally give you a chance to see them in action! You’ll also find goodies like the Toy
Commander Christmas Surprise, plus demos of some of the coolest (and hardest) racing
games around. And don’t forget Kao the Kangaroo, of course. He's itching for some action: just
like you, we suspect.

Now, here’s the part where we would normally say, “Less reading! More demo-ing!’’ But since
we’re in the holiday spirit (and since you’re probably standing in or near a Dreamcast-stocked
retail store right now), we’re going to direct you instead to a) buy this magazine; b) tear it out of
the shrinkwrap; c) check out our definitive Dreamcast Holiday Buying Guide inside; and
d) start shopping (in that order). Our advice to you this season? Dream big!

SPEED DEVILS ONLINE PUBLISHER UBISOFT RELEASE NOVEMBER PLAYERS 1

111 M—

The original Speed Devils made quite a splash when it debuted at the
Dreamcast launch over a year ago. Now, UbiSoft is ready to take the game
online with the release of Speed Devils Online. Although the demo only

1," ®

lets you race offline, check out two of the tracks in either of two different
cars to see just how different the quasi-sequel is.

xdQfcn Stick:
p£ig| D-Pad:

Steer © N/A Brake

Rear View/Toggle ©Reverse Accelerate

O Brake

ROGUE SPEAR PUBUSHER MAJESCO RELEASE NOVEMBf R PLAYERS 1

The follow-up to the hugely popular action strategy Rainbow Six, Rogue

Spear promises the same exciting stealth gameplay coupled with more
missions and more options. Play through the single mission on the demo
to get a feel for the game if you’re new to the genre, and learn the controls
in order to protect your men and attack the enemy effectively.

Stick: Look Around
D-Pad: Peek Left/Peek
Right, Interact/Menu

O Move Forward

O Step Right

L!> Fire Weapon

PHANTASY STAR ONLINE [movie] PUBUSHER UBISOFT RELEASE IAN PLAYERS N/A ■ GRANDIA II [movie]

PUBLISHER UBISOFT RELEASE DECEMBER PLAYERS N/A

One of the most anticipated games of the coming year will break the
barrier of online roleplaying for the console masses. The movie on this
month's disc gives you a sneak peek at some of PSO s different worlds
and environments, along with some up-close looks at how battle will play
out along with the character creation mode. Commence drooling now.

Two words for you: Epic RPG. And now gamers in the US will finally be
able to get a good look at the gameplay, battle systems and tear-inducing
beauty that is Game Arts’ labor of love, Grandia II. Should you buy it?
Should you steal it? Read up on one of the must-have RPGs of the year, in
this issue's exclusive feature-length review!

Stick: N/A
D-Pad: N/A
ON/A

F355 CHALLENGE: PASSIONE ROSSA

PUB ACCLAIM RELEASE OUT NOW PLAYERS 5,

Haven’t had a chance to check out the arcade driving sim crafted by
Yu Suzuki to celebrate his favorite type of car? Well, now’s the time to test
your skills in a two-lap Arcade run in a Ferrari. Choose from two different
training courses and follow the guides to learn just how precise and
detailed this driving sim really is.

POD: SPEED

ZONE PUBUSHER UBISOFT RELEASE OUT NOW PLAYERS N/A

Futuristic racing in the form of Pod: Speedzone is coming to DC and
bringing network play along with it. Check out the demo of the Arcade
mode of the game and race in either the Crab or the Couger craft to see if
you have what it takes to come in first against a slew of tough opponents.
Read our review of the game in this issue!

Stick: Ste
D-Pad: Ch

T ’ 7 ©Turbo

er © Use Item <JJ Brake

ange View © N/A Forward

Boost © N/A

KAO THE K/

kNGAROO PUBUSHER TITUS RELEASE NOVEMBER PLAYERS 1

‘ III

A ‘

Someone besides Midway is ready to rumble, and his name is Kao the
Kangaroo. This simplistic platformer spotlights the cute, boxing glove-
wearing kanga at his platforming best, and this month’s demo features
one of the 25 stages available in the full version of Kao. Collect coins while
rock’n sock’n bad guys— and look oh-so-cute in the process.

>4||a Stick: Me

nyn D-Pad: M

©Jump

ve Character © Punch <JJ Side Step

ove Character ©Shoot Close-up View

O Tail Whip

TOY COMMANDER CHRISTMAS SURPRISE DISC EXCLUSIVE

ODCM has the golden opportunity to share one of the coolest US
exclusive games to ever leak out to the public: No Cliche’s Toy Commander
Christmas Surprise. NOTE: When you select Toy Commander from the
menu, you’ll come to a blue screen then a black screen. Don't worry! It
hasn’t crashed! You must wait around 30 sec. and the game will begin.

Stick: Steer/Move

Accelerate

| D-Pad: View Change

L£> Brake

©N/A

SEGA MARI*

iE FISHING PUBLISHER SICA RELEASE OCTOBER PLAYERS 1

• ■

The sequel to the outstanding Sega Bass Fishing, Sega Marine Fishing
takes its far-casting act to the open saltwater for an infinitely more varied
dip into the fish-tastic barrel of gaming. It’s time to drag out that trusty
fishing controller from the closet, and put it to work on a demo stage of the
game which will challenge you to reel in some creatures of the deep.

h Stick: Reel

<3J N/A

| D-Pad: N/A

©N/A

L£>N/A

7 © Reel/Cast

©N/A

HAVING TROUBLE?

Having problems getting your disc to run? Didn't get one with your copy of this fine and
upstanding publication? Send your name, mailing address, subscription number (if you
are a subscriber), and the issue’s date to: dischelpr3imaginemedia.com and provide a brief
description of what’s wrong with the disc as well. IMPORTANT! This contact address is not for
game news or information. If you have questions concerning game codes information or
Dreamcast news, please refer your inquiries to Sega or the appropriate third party.

Help: dischelp@imaginemed8a.com

6 OfficiaHi'Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.DailyRadar.corr .

wEmBIffllTiKBIMIl

PlayStation

demolition. lucasarts. cam starwars.com

0 LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC. © 2000 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All rights reserved. Used under authorization. The LucasArts logo is a registered trademark of
Ltd. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sega. Dreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Sega Enterprises, LTD. Vigilante 8 and Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense are trademarks of Activision, Inc. © 1998-2000 Activision. Inc.

r From the "
creators of

Vigilante 8

and

Vigilante 8:
2nd Offense

The Carnage Begins November

Animated Violence 1

m D -MAIL Letters

Team ODCM

IF LIFE WERE A VIDEOGAME (and we often
mistake it for one at ODCM) we’d like to think of
ourselves as a lone band of fighters, dueling
against evil in a world gone horribly wrong. And in
this crazy virtual world, there aren’t three forms of
the final boss.. .only one. And we’d make tons of
gold in order to buy the best equipment, like super
cool healing herbs, the latest mythril swords, and
super speedy G4’s. But then again, we have a
magazine to do.. .dragon slaying can wait.

CHRIS CHARLA

Editor-in-Chief/Swordsman
The fearless leader of our motley
crew, Chris is, inevitably, the
swordsman with more raw power
than magic skills. Well, that would
be true if his strength wasn't based
on developing Internet text
adventures in his spare time.
Enemies, beware of his super secret
Baby Oscar Special! It's a doozy.

DAN FITZPATRICK

Art Director/Priest
Quiet and subdued, Dan is the
mediator of the group. Wise beyond
his years and willing to design
covers in dangerous situations, he
leaves the gang early to follow his
destiny on the beaches of Hawaii.
Despite his strong faith, he's chosen
to chase after a waif named Linda,
capturing her with a golden band.

DINA FAYER

Managing Editor/Mage
Okay, so she may not cast big
spells that use stuff like Thunder,
Fire or Water in it, but if you
equip her with the Platform
Shoes accessory and a copy of
Quark 4, she’s practically
invulnerable to damaging sushi
attacks and bad edit. Can turn
into dark mage around deadline.

FRANCESCA REYES

Senior Editor/Sidekick Mascot
Strong in Assist magic, you may not
get many physical attacks out of
Francesca, but you can be assured
that she'll be there in a pinch with a
healing herb or maybe even
something nice and devastating like
a summon spell. Just ask Evan.

He's had Bahamut summoned on
his ass more than once by her.

DAVE CORDON

Associate Art Director/Bard
Armed with a mouse and some
serious Photoshop skills, Dave was
one of the quickest party members
to the punch...until recently. After
being hit with a Charm spell by a
fair maiden, Dave's class has
changed from Fighter to spoony
Bard. Thankfully, he retained his
crazy lethal Layering technique.

EVAN SHAMOON

Associate Editor/Warrior
What fighting party would be
complete without the hot-headed,
eager young warrior? The quickest
to the punch, but slow to gain in
Willpower, Evan is often the guy
who gets the gang into trouble by
chasing a skirt into the village
tavern. Recently leveled up with an
Affordable Housing potion.

STAFF ILLUSTRATIONS BY NASKA C.

8 Official # Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

LETTER OF THE MONTH

ES 100% Independent?

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know what a fantastic
magazine you have. I bought ODCM Issue 07 for the web
browser and the Sonic Adventure 2 preview and was so
impressed that I sent a subscription card out that day.
What I want to know is, why is Sonic Team independent
from Sega? What does this mean? Does it mean that they
will develop games for *gasp* Nintendo or *GASP* Sony?
Thanks for your time. Again, awesome mag, guys! Keep
up the good work.

Chris

sinko25@msn.

Hey Chris, there seems to be a lot of confusion
regarding what will happen to Sega since its
formerly internal development teams
were split off into independent
companies. For now, all of these teams
are only involved with making games for
Dreamcast, NAOMI and NAOMI 2 arcade boards
(as well as the occasional PC and handheld port).

There have been rampant rumors about some of
them taking their acts to other platforms, but Sega
has remained very firm in its proclamations that
this is untrue.

We here at ODCM have heard it all (both the
rumors and the denials), and we doubt that any of
the teams will be developing for other
systems under the Sega brand for a long,
long time. On a side note, we've also

heard through the grapevine that this rumor always strikes
fear into the hearts of third party publishers who release
games on competing systems, simply because Sega is
such a revered game developer in Japan! No
third party wants to compete with games
like Jet Grind Radio or Shenmue. But for
now, it looks like they have nothing to
worry about; Sonic Team et al are still
Sega acolytes. So relax, Chris—

Dreamcast is still the

next-

generation
Sonic.

83 Fighters’ Destiny

I was wondering if somebody like Capcom might pick up
some of SNK’s licences for games like King of Fighters 2000,
Koudelka, or Cool Cool Toon. Neo Geo Pocket Color was a
great system, but it had too big of a competitor: the Game
Boy Color (which, I might add, Nintendo tricked my mother
into buying me as a Christmas gift). So until something
happens with SNK’s games, I’m gonna keep on playing Card
Fighter’s Clash. You might even see me sneak over to my
Dreamcast to play King of Fighters: Dream Match '99.

Ben Lorman
SNKoudelkaFan@aol.com

Right now, Ben, it’s all rumor and
innuendo about who might take over
some of SNK’s classic franchises. It’s
been written that Capcom would take
them over, but it’s still only a rumor
even if it seems like a perfect fit.

But, until the end of the year, SNK
is still producing games for
Dreamcast in Japan (Last Blade 2:
Final Edition being its last; it releases
on December 7 in Japan). After that,
it’s rumored that the company will
focus its efforts on Pachinko games under its parent
company, Aruze. It's a shame, especially since King of
Fighters and Samurai Shodown are still much beloved
among us more hardcore gamers, but we’ll simply have to
wait and see if another third party will pick up the pieces and
make a run at some of the profit to be had from us finicky
fighting otaku in Japan and the US.

Will Ranke and her
Cool Cool Toon chums
come to the US?

Ed Emulation, Ahoy

I just got the November issue of ODCM (it was excellent as
usual) and I was interested in the topic of the letter of the
month regarding piracy. I agree 100% with your response
about Dreamcast pirating, but I'm wondering what your
opinion is on ‘dead’ systems.

For instance, Radiant Silvergun for Sega Saturn routinely
sells for $150 or so on eBay and there are no stores left that
carry new Saturn software. Is Sega reaping any benefits from
this $150 dollar sale? Answer: NO. Therefore, my question is:
Is it unethical to pirate software from dead systems?

I have never pirated a game in my life, but I would like to
challenge you with this question because it seems not nearly

as ‘black and white’ as your previous answer. I could be
wrong. What do you think?

Kent

Gameofyou@aol.com

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news for EMU freaks, but
legally, even for dead systems and unsupported software, the
issue is still black and white: whether the game or system is
being actively marketed or not, the rights still belong to
someone, and it’s still an infringement to pirate them. It’s
harder, of course, to say that you’re taking cash out of
someone’s pocket if you pirate an ‘orphaned’ game, but
while that moral argument may no longer apply, the legal
one definitely still does.

53 Hikaru or Naomi?

On page 17 of ODCM Issue 08, you say that Planet Harriers
is based on Sega's NAOMI board. I read online that this title
is to use the Hikaru board. You might want to look into it,
because I believe Hikaru isn’t quite as easy to port to DC,
but the chances of a port are still pretty good anyway.

Love your magazine: your outlook on things matches mine. I
think you’ve found yourself a lifetime subscriber. Keep up
the great work.

Aaron

APHammer@aol.com

Aaron, as far as we know right now, Planet Harriers is built
for the NAOMI board, as Hikaru (according to our sources) is
dead in the wake of NAOMI 2’s
announcement. We could be
wrong about this, so
we’re still
checking into
it— but no
confirmation as
of press time
has been
heard. The
importance is
crucial, as
NAOMI-based
games can be
DC ports in no

time at all! We'll be running more previews of Planet
Harriers as we hear more news on the game, so keep
an eye on future issues, Aaron.

www.DailyRadar.com

Visitwww.esrb.org |
or call 1-800-771-3772
for more info.

Dreamcast

tombrai

Eiflosrlnter

;red trademarksVl Core Design^d^. Eic

registered traderf&rks i

Dreamcast i

■ Dreamdast logo ;

1 !• -

m D -MAIL Letters

‘Sega is still ‘evaluating’ whether or not to bring out the MP3 player in Japan and the US.” odcm

B3 Free (Down) Loading

I have a question for you
guys. Recently, Sega Net
launched and every
one who signed up was
REALLY happy because
they could finally play
some NFL2K1 or
whatever online. But
some people who are
just too darn lazy to
pay $21 a month for
Sega Net or any other
service (like me) get
left out of this. This
doesn’t mean that I don’t
want to go online though— quite the opposite! So what I am
trying to ask is, could you guys PLEASE put a list of any FREE
ISPs that are compatible with the PlanetWeb browser in your
next mag? Pretty please? Thanks a million!

J ‘Rome
Via email

Where should we begin, J ‘Rome? There are literally a ton of
free ISPs available and all of them are compatible for online
gaming via SegaNet. NetZero is one, as well as Earthlink and
a host of others, so you'll want to shop around to find out
which one is best for what you’re planning on doing. The only
thing that might be a negative about using these ISPs for
online gaming through SegaNet is that the lag time might be
significantly increased during peak user times like early
evening, etc. But if the free deal is too good to pass up for
you, then your best bet would be to check out NetZero or Juno.

0 Whatever Happened To...

In ODCM Issue 07, you promised me.. .er... everybody.. .a Sonic
Adventure 2 interview and tell-all report! When my ODCM
came, I headed straight for my Dreamcast, slapped the demo
in, ran toward the nearest table and started scanning the
pages for Sonic, Tails, etc. I about threw it out the window
when I didn’t find anything (of course, I read the Shenmue
section first!) But anyway, what gives?

Tristan Fleming
JFlemi2@bellsouth.net

Unfortunately, at the time that this particular issue went to
press, we were informed that Sonic Adventure 2 would have
a ship date far earlier than the one it actually
turned out to have. When
Sega told us that it was going
to be a holiday 2000 or early
2001 game, the company also
promised that we could have
complete coverage of the title,
complete with interviews. But
the game turned out to be
more on target for a Christmas
We’re going to blame the 2001 release, instead-so

blue hedgehog for this one, there just wasn’t any new

guys. But he’s looking sharp, information we could give you.

We do promise to blow the
cover on the game wide open as it gets closer to
reiease...whenever Yuji Naka and Sonic Team is willing
to talk more openly about it.

H Second Coming

I’m a big fan of the Resident Evil series and I absolutely
loved how Code: Veronica looked and played on Dreamcast.
Lately I’ve been hearing talk that there is a version of
Resident Evil 2 for the Dreamcast, but I haven’t seen it on
store shelves. Is there any truth to this rumor?

Milford Kane
Oblivion82834@Juno.com

By the time you read this, Milford, Resident Evil 2, along with
its survival horror brethren ( Resident Evil: Nemesis and D/no
Crisis) should be hitting or just about to hit store shelves. As
upgraded ports of the PC versions, all of these games will
sport some new features (although they're mostly cosmetic,
not gameplay-related) to set them apart from their
PlayStation counterparts. Start scouring those stores!

!9 Bronx Cheer

I know it’s Thanksgiving, but I just couldn’t think of a way to
thank Sega for such a great system with great games at a
great price without sounding corny, so here are some
questions and comments instead:

1. Any news on Virtua Fighter 4?

2. Is Last Bronx coming to Dreamcast? In my opinion, it’s the
best weapons fighter that no one knows about. An updated
version of this game on the DC could give Soul Calibura run
for its money.

3. We get Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure, but not Vampire Saviors?
How bizarre.

4. Lastly, I’d like to nominate D2 as the best rental game on
DC this year. It’s original, beautiful, intense and disturbing all
at once. You can beat it in one (albeit long) sitting, but you go
away satisfied. And if you like hunting, you just may end up
buying it.

Daniel Goodman
danielgoodman@hotmail.com

Daniel, are you sure you don’t want to simply carve up a turkey
for us and serve some cranberry sauce all around to give
thanks? Ah, didn’t think so. So, instead, we’re giving thanks
back by answering your questions:

1. Sega Japan has just unveiled the fact that a mysterious
game is getting readied to show off its latest arcade board,
NAOMI 2: simply called Virtua Fighter X. Sadly, that's all we
know as of press time about the project, but by the time you
read this, more info will be available. We'll be sure to cover it to
the fullest extent of gaming law in a future issue.

2. No news of Last Bronx making a splash on DC, Daniel.

3. Bizarre, for real. Vampire Saviors (Dark Stalkers in the US)
would be a great coup for DC, seeing as we've had pretty much
all of the other Capcom greats (sans Megaman), but we’li have
to wait and see if it gets announced for Stateside release.

4. Though it was a little on the short side, we agree 100% with
you about D2. Atmospheric and strange, we're hoping that
Warp comes back to gaming in the future to give us an update
on what Laura may be planning to do for her next adventure.

But don't hold your breath for a sequel.

ED MP3 Player

I am a hardcore Dreamcast gamer and I enjoy your mag
100%. I plan on buying/renting such quality games as Tony
Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Jet Grind Radio, and
Shenmue. Being the gamer that I am, I
have practically no space (nine blocks to
be exact) left in my VMU, and I plan on
purchasing the MP3 player VMU rather
than a memory card. This brings me to
the inevitable questions I must ask:

1. When does it come out in the US?
I can’t seem to find news about it
anywhere but in your mag, but it’s
very vague as to when it comes out.

2. How much game saving
memory does it have? The usual
200 block standard, 400 blocks,
or (dare I say it) a whopping 800
blocks of game saving power?

3. What are your favorite
DC games?

Sean Mullins
GASGANOSCM@aol.com

Somebody is anxious to get their hands on an MP3 DC
peripheral, right? Well, then read on, Sean:

1. Right now, Sega is still ‘evaluating whether or not to bring
out the MP3 player in Japan and the US. We've heard
conflicting reports on our end that point to the MP3 player not
being released at all here in the States! Gasp! But the official

answer from Sega is: “An MP3 ‘solution’ is being developed for
Dreamcast, but a time frame for its release has not been
decided.” Hmmm...you make the call, Sean.

2. Though nothing is currently known about a possible "MP3
‘solution’" VMU according to Sega, we do know that Sega Japan
is planning on releasing a 4X memory unit with the launch of
Phantasy Star Online. We’re hoping that the same unit will
release here in the States.

3. A quick poll of favorite DC games around the office goes a
little something like this:

Evan: Tony Hawk ProSkater 2, Jet Grind Radio, Power Stone, MDK2
Francesca: Jet Grind Radio, Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia, Grandia II
Chris: Tony Hawk ProSkater 1&2, Test Drive LeMans, NFL2K1
Art Dept: Huh? We’re tryin’ to work, here!

EJ Ticket to Ride

I’m mostly into Dreamcast sport
games since some of the other
games are kinda weird (Typing
of the Dead?? I mean, come
on!); plus most of the sport
games are pretty fun if you get
the right ones. Anyways I’m into
BMX games and I'm looking
forward to both Mat Hoffman
and Dave Mirra. But since I’d
rather not get both, I’d like to Mat Hoffman: due in Spring,

know from your point of view

which one is better? Does Tony Hawk 2 have more levels and
stuff then the first? I got so into the game that I beat it with
every skater!

Matt (DC sports game fanatic)
MattymatlO@aol.com

Hey Matt, you might not have to choose between the two!
Mat Hoffman Pro BMX has been delayed until spring next
year, because Activision wanted to make sure that it was up
to snuff with its other extreme sports franchise, Tony Hawk’s
Pro Skater. And with Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX coming out
this holiday season, you can buy it freely since it will be the
only BMX game on the roster for this year. As for Tony Hawk
2, make sure to check out our full review of the game in
TestZone!

ES Sky Strobe Patrol

The most recent ODCM Issue 09 was dynamite. It had the best
demo disc by far...However, one of my most anticipated games,
Skies of Arcadia, had a warning about flash/strobe effects in the
beginning. I’m a chronic migraine sufferer (one of the worst
cases) and I also get seizures. I really, really want the game but
how bad are the flashes/strobing of white light? Is it just the
spells or what? Could someone like me play this game?

PDR

Philipdr@hotmail.com

Thanks for the support, Philip! We can all sympathize with your
situation, but unfortunately we don’t have any helpful advice
beyond recommending that you consult with your doctor
regarding the situation. After playing Skies of Arcadia, we can
safely say that the strobe effects are all contained within the
spells, but depending on your condition, it's hard to say if they
will be severe enough to trigger a seizure. We’d hate to make a
wrong call on this one; our lawyer would have a seizure, too.
Philip, we sincerely hope that you will find a safe way to play the
game, but please ask your doctor before attempting to do so.

» MIGHT HflhES URITE

Who was it that once said that the holiday season is one
of the loneliest times of year? Well, it certainly doesn’t
have to be. In fact, since we’re all stuck here in the office
turning the giant cogs known as magazine publishing and
ODCM during the wee hours of Christmas Eve and beyond,
we’d love to hear similar tales of woe from the great abyss
known as ‘the outside world’. Write us with your gaming
queries and we can all share the experience. We promise.
Snail mail: ODCM, c/o Imagine Media, 150 N. Hill Drive,
Brisbane, CA 94005. And we dig email, especially at:
dcmag@imaginemedia.com. Happy holidays!

10 Official S Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.DailyRadar.com

Send in two proofs of purchase from any Virtua
Fighter: The Animation videos and get a free
paster by mail!!

Mail your two proofs along with $3 shipping/handling in an envelope to:

Virtua Give Away
c/o Media Blasters Inc.

BG5 W. 4DTH Street, Suite ZOO
/Ven York, MY 10018

mu, u if*

>2000 Ubi Soil Entertainment, Inc. Speed Devils and Ubi Soft Entertainment are trademarks ol Ubi Soft, Inc. Ubi Soft and the llbi Soft Entertainment logo are registered trademarks of Ubi Soft, Inc. All rights reserved. SegaNet is a trademark Of SEGA.com, Inc. and may not be
part without the express written permission ol SEGA.com. SEGA is registered in the U .S. Patent and Trademark Office. ©2000 Ubi Soft Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. Sega, Oreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Sega

Attention, sinners. The most infernal arcade racer ever now runs online. All the
hellish tracks, tricked out cars, and shady side bets from the original Speed Devils
return - plus 11 new cars, and 21 new ways to put your hard-earned cash, car,
and street rep on the line. Hey, leave the "legal" sports for those cornfed boys down
the street. SegaNet just got itself a red light district.

i.ap Rncnpn
02 56 39

:ap time

Dreamcast

f & 'iif

m * '

This game is appropriately rated 'T' [Teen] according to ESRB
guidelines, and it contains a warning screen at the beginning of the
game, so that parents and teens together can decide if the content is
appropriate." He also noted that Sega would donate a percentage of
Jet Grind Radio's profits to the San Francisco Neighborhood
Beautification program, which goes toward eradicating graffiti
vandalism.

We hate tagging, but we love graffiti art, so we have to give Sega
some street cred just for drawing the line in the sand, so to speak.
And the winner is...? San Diego artist Sake (pictured with gas mask)
took home first place (and a nice $5,000 cash prize), Christopher
Kinney came in second, and Paul Giannini placed third.

“We have to give Sega street cred for
drawing the line in the sand, so to speak.”

HRT: GOOD FOR UHflT AILS US

WHAT WE RE TALKING ABOUT

Roll out the artwork 14

Shenmue 2 update IS

Dream on 18

Separated at birth 18

Dream Studio dreams 19

Transatlantic anime 22

For Your Information 22

Sega eats bizkits 23

Who’s your Amigo? 24

THIS MONTH

Mobile Assault Tour

Riding herd on this grafitti-dotted event was the Sega Mobile Assault Vehicle,
which routinely tours the country spreading the Dreamcast love. The Vehicle
packs a variety of games to play (in addition to Jet Grind Radio), and

provides snacks, goodies and Jet Grind T-shirts to those

intrepid players who ventured into its cop-guarded
innards. (Is the look inside worth it? One guy
walked out of the trailer, looked at his
friend, and said, “Jesus— that just
made my day.” Draw your own
conclusions). Don’t want to come
indoors? Try your hand at the
kid- and adult-sized
jeep/kiosks outside.

the

Keeping the City beautiful

In honor of Jet Grind Radio's impending launch, Sega sponsored a
celebration of videogames, grafitti and the art of Krylon-inspired
self-expression by the Bay, in downtown San Francisco. And your
chums at ODCM were there to soak it all up.

Responding to San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown's dastardly
attempt to foil the event (see sidebar), Sega Prez Peter Moore
delivered the following statement: "While a portion of the game's
storyline does involve graffiti art, it is portrayed within the context of
creative self-expression, not vandalism. Sega does not condone
graffiti as an act of vandalism with the release of Jet Grind Radio.

Dreamcast News Network

Mayor Battles
Good, Clean Fun

™“ a Wp'wnm “

to Oft ‘«sco, tned yesterrfa,

5 SfSSS
: ■.<£-£*».
encouragi n t „„if. ^ might t

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. few blocks away B graffifi iust a

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Property and 1, £™E“ d pm M«
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namedspit,.^ e t ?? ve recently

IF YOU DIDN'T THINK GRAFITTI WAS
art before, Mayor Willie Brown's reaction to
Sega’s Jet Grind Radio grafitti contest would be
enough to convince you.

San Francisco’s mayor— who looks
distressingly like the little man from Monopoly—
was hopping mad that Sega was encouraging
grafitti, apparently not understanding that
graffiti as an art form was different from
straight out vandalism. “It’s probably to late to
stop this,” said a mayoral spokesman, “But
we’re going to press them to take this
promotion out of San Francisco and Justin
Herman Plaza.”

Art is SUPPOSED to inspire this kind of
protest from the establishment, isn’t it?

Anyway, despite the bluster, the event went
forward as planned, some great art was
made, and no vandalism associated with event occured.

Cool Justin Herman Plaza Graffiti Fact: In 1987, rock legend U2 staged an
impromptu concert in this very same Justin Herman Plaza, with 20,000 people in
attendance. At a climactic moment in the show, Bono climbed the girder-like
interior of the Plaza’s Vaillancourt Fountain with a can of Krylon, and sprayed the
words “Stop the traffic— rock 'n roll!” all over the renowned structure. Thanks in
part to the outrage that this action caused, the city of San Francisco has been
waging a lengthy, expensive (like, $10 million a year expensive), all-out war
against graffiti vandalism ever since. So Sega was very, very careful to keep this
art confined to canvases, where it belongs.

As crowds milled around them, the finalists
began working on their creations at 10am and finished
just after 2pm. Then a panel of five judges— which
included both the lead game designer and the lead art
designer from Jet Grind developer Smilebit, plus DJ
Chewie Gomez, graffiti artist Haze, and Rob Zombie
drummer John Tempesta— perused the work and
determined the winner: San Diego artist Sake took home
first place (and a nice $5,000 cash prize),

\ /\ Christopher Kinney came in second, and Paul
rl/ 1 Giannini placed third. The piece to the right
F J was done by Paul Giannini, and was our
V V personal favorite.

Holiday 2000 Official# Dreamcast Magazine 15

The City spends
more than
$10 million a
year removing
grafitti tags."

The police presence at Sega’s Graffiti is Art event was
huge— and a little confused. Most of these guys think of
spray paint as an off-the-shelf version of cocaine.

For the best book you’ll
ever read about the
art of grafitti (amongst
many other things), pick
up Bomb the Suburbs by
William Upski Wimsatt.
Head to your local
bookstore or over to
http:// w ww.softsk ull
.com/html/bomb
.html to get
yourself a copy.

\ i\ w

V ” \

1 VIK-

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TIMI€ T© $€TTL€

Two monster corporations at war. One solution.

A massive martial arts event, Millennium Fight 2000, is organized
to settle the score and eliminate all conflict between the two parties. Many of the world's most famous warriors have
joined and the public is going mad with anticipation. Join over 25 brawlers from Capcom's legendary Street Fighter and
SNK's world-renowned King of Fighters series' as they fight for universal domination.

Capcom vs. SNK. . . the ultimate collision of strength and power. CAPCOM.COM

TTTT

Animated Violence

Suggestive Themes

(§) Dreamcast,

©CAPCOM CO., LTD. 2000 ©CAPCOM U.S.A., INC. 2000 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©SNK 2000. CAPCOM and the CAPCOM logo are registered trademarks of CAPCOM CO., LTD. CAPCOM VS. SNK MILLENNIUM FIGHT 2000 is manufactured and dislributed by CAPCOM CO., LTD. under
license from SNK Corporation. SNK is a trademark of SNK Corporation. Sega, Dreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Sega Enterprises. Ltd. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Associahon.

Amigo The Monkey Curious George

YOU CAN SEE THE resemblance in the smile,
can't you? George W. Bush's winsome display
of teeth (as pictured here) was designed by a
crack team of Tenderers and consultants, and
implemented by an even larger team of image
coordinators. Samba de Amig o's delightful lit-
tle monkey was produced by Sonic Team in
exactly the same fashion: an odd coinkidink.

D DIRECT

Dreamcast News Network

The State of Dreamcast in the new millennium

As the year draws to a close,

we sat down with Sega of America
head honcho Peter Moore to set the
record straight on Dreamcast’s past,
present and prospects...

So: How's Dreamcast?

Fantastic! We’ve been doing very
well since the price drop to $149.

PC Data is showing a 156% increase
in sales, and we’ve got anecdotal
reports in from retailers that we had
very strong sales yesterday [October
26, the day of the PS2 launch]. Pos-
sibly people disapointed by the lack
of available PS2s saw that it wasn’t
such a big deal anyway, and picked
up a DC and some games.

Sega of Japan just announced a
pretty signifigant loss. Should
gamers be worried?

No, not at all. That’s what happens
when you have to install a base, and
dropping the price here and
in Europe didn’t help. [A console’s
life span goes in] a 5 year cycle, and
the first two years are pretty ugly—
but then the tie ratio of software to
hardware starts going up, and you
start making more money. Also, this
is a half-year result, remember, com-
ing out before the holiday sales
season— which is when we expect
significant software sales. This is
where the margin is, and [the loss
statement] also includes signifcant

earth: and we’re always looking for
other ways to utilize it. PDAs are
obviously the next wave— Handspring
has a 16bit color screen now— and
it’s getting to the point where we
could see getting our Genesis con-
tent on there. Yuji Naka was here
yesterday showing Phantasy Star
Online, and that’s going to be great:
a global, online RPG. That’s what
we’re focusing on.

Speaking on online, how’s
SegaNet doing? You just
announced that you’d signed up
100,000 members already.

It’s a little ahead of our projections,
actually. And that announcement

EXCLUSIVE IMTERVIEU

no? They both speak Spanish, and they both
(according to reports) used to like to party
pretty hearty ( you said "tequila shots," not
us). So, how can you tell the difference?
Amigo could take George's place at a
press conference and no one would even
notice the difference — until, that is, he
broke out the maracas and started
shouting "Samba! Samba! Samba!"

"We’re confident on hardware, and on software, we’re even more confident...
just look at our lineup. At this point, it’s in the hands of god
and the consumer — and the consumer is god!’’

Still Bleeding

DREAM ON

: GAMES WE WISH WERE ON DC

How confident are you about DC’s
future going into 2001?

On a hardware front, we’re incredi-
bly confident we’ll meet our target
of having an installed base in North
America of 4.5 million to 5 million
units by the end of our fiscal year [at
the end of March]. If you look at the
software coming out in the next
three weeks— Shenmue, Jet Grind,
NBA 2K1 and Quake — and the obvi-
ous lack of any real supply of PS2s
going forward, the opportunity to hit
that number is very high. The sell-in
and demand from stores is excep-
tional. So yes, we’re confident on
hardware: but on software, we’re
even more confident. Look at the
blockbuster lineup we have out
now— at this point, it’s in the hands
of god and the consumer— and the
consumer is god!

WONDER BOY SEGA 1986 (MASTER SYSTEM)
Sidescrolling action RPG
antics with princesses,
super-deformed heroes
and an annoyingly tough
boss (don’t even get us

started on the ten-
headed last boss
in WB in Monster
World on Genesis) add magic to the wondrous Won-
der Boy series that showed up first in 1986 on the
Sega Master System and continued in 14 different
forms produced until 1994. Bring it back, please!

Rumors of 111 Bleed 's death have
been greatly exaggerated, say
sources. Climax Graphics'
shooter, published in Japan by
Sega, was turned down by Sega
of America — and rumors began
to surface (in the lunch line, in
rest-rooms, on elevators, in
the corridors and in NextGen 's
digs) that the game's fate in
the USA was dire.

But not so, say our deep-
cover sources, speaking strictly
on condition of anonymity. "The
game is coming out in the US,
for sure!" says said oracle.
Unfortunately, the ink has yet
to dry on the contract, so we
can't reveal who the publisher
is. Look for it next spring.

capital expenditures: SegaNet does-
n’t happen for free. Really, though,
we’re investing the money to posi-
tion ourselves well for 2001 and
beyond.

A press release came out of Japan
talking about Sega developing for
other platforms. Are we going to
see Sonic on PS2?

No, no. The other platforms the
release talked about were things
like PDAs, and the Motorola
MAP phone and WAP phones
in Europe. In Japan, of
course, they refer to the
Internet itself as a plat-
form. But look, Sega has
one of the
greatest
content
libraries on

was made prior to the release of
Quake 3, which we expect will draw
an entirely different gamer to online
play. Also, that 100,000 number is
only the people who’ve signed up to
SegaNet. We’re seeing that same
number again in the NFL 2K1 chat
rooms who are signing on with
another ISP and having a great
experience. I’ll be disappointed if
there aren’t 4 to 5 hundred thousand
people play online with Dreamcast
by the end of March.

Bottom line?

Once this PS2 launch
nonsense blows over, it
will all come back down
to what’s important—
which is great games.
We’ve got them, and they
don’t.

Mortal Kombat and Event Hori-
zon for Paramount Pictures and
Soldier for Warner Brothers. The
film currently has a $40 million
budget and will arrive in theatres
internationally in November ’01.

Pass the popcorn.

Mindfire Entertainment and Sega are in
talks to bring Sega’s House of the Dead
series to life on the big screen, while
German film production company
Constantin Film is working on a big-
screen version of the Resident Evil
franchise. It’s been
confirmed that Paul
Anderson has been
signed to direct the
movie, and that
production on the
film has already
been started.

Anderson’s previ-
ous films include

Let there be 'Mue 2!

|Yu Suzuki created a brave new world with
Shenmue : will Chapter 2 be even braver?

QUESTION: WHAT'S COOLER THAN ANYTHING

and sailing Stateside very, very soon?

Shenmue 2... Really. Yes way.

Yu Suzuki and his team have fired up
their fantastic RPG machine, and
they're steaming ahead on the
next chapter of your favorite
epic story. Here's what we
already know: First, as Yu Suzuki
has said, the sequel will come
out much sooner than 3+ years
from now (which is comparable to
how long Shenmue was in
development). In fact, the game will
definitely be out in 2001 — this was the
number one item on the agenda when
Sega of America boss Peter Moore went
to Japan to discuss the 2001 release
schedule, according to our sources.

Second, the new chapter is actually located
in China, rather than Japan — y'see, the entire
four-disc first game (see our 10/10 review in
ODCM #08) was just the prolog.

And finally, the game itself is supposed to
feature a massive graphical update. Frankly,
given the beauty of the first game, we
don't really see how that's possible, but a
source told us that "If Shenmue is Virtua
Fighter, Shenmue 2 is Virtua Fighter 2 in
terms of graphics." One word, if this
is true: Wow.

Plot-wise, the game will be a
continuation of Ryu's quest to discover
who murdered his father. What we
don't know, and probably won't
until the game is out, is just how
close he will come to solving
the mystery in Shenmue 2.
Not only does the game have
16 chapters, but a single
game has multiple
chapters: these quests could
take virtually forever.

And we hope they do — count on
us to keep you posted on new information
as we hear it.

HOT LIST

WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE ...

TOP TEN mmpo

BEST SELLING TITLES, OCT. 2000

We want it badly:

1. Phantasy Star Online

2. Guilty Gear X

3. Valkyrie Profile

4. Jambo Safari

5. A break

You want it badly:

1. Phantasy Star Online

2. Dragonball Z

3. More Dragonball Z

4. Shenmue 2

5. Bleem!

We all hope & pray for:

1. Soul Calibur 2

2. Nights 2

3. Panzer Dragoon Saga 2

4. Chakan the Foreverman

5. Eternal Champions

You’re dying to play with:

1. The MP3 player

2. The mouse

3. The zip drive

4. The DVD

5. bleemlcast

SEGA SPORTS NFL2K1

SEGA

ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP CRAVE

SONIC ADVENTURE
NFL2K

STREET FIGHTER III: 3RD STRIKE

6 VIRTUA TENNIS

7 NBA2K

8 POWER STONE 2

9 SEGA GT

10 TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER

SEGA

CAPCOM

SEGA

CAPCOM

SEGA

ACTIVISION

www.dreamcastmagazine.CQm

Holiday 2000 Official # Dreamcast Magazine 19

Rocfr Your
Gaming World
with Explosive
Sound!

Radical Sound
Enhancement
for Any Video
Game Console

You thought your games
sounded great before,
wait until you hear them WOWed . . .

Instantly add more BASS and EXPLOSIVE SOUND to your
video games

I Immerse yourself in radically fuller, richer sound
■You'll hear more BASS and AWESOME SOUND for superi-
or game play!

I Adds headphone capabilities to video game consoles

WOW Thing for Game Consoles is plug-and-play and ready
to use with any video game console system. So turn on the
WOW Thing for Game Consoles and take your gaming
experience to a whole new level!

Hear the WOW difference..,
Visit www.wowthing.com

Available at a store nearyon,
www.wowthing.com,
or call 1-800-656-5426

SRSC#)

www.srslabs.com

TrtaBass

SRSCVJ

WOW

by SRS C#}'

SILENT SCOPE IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR
PLAYSTATION 2 AND DREAMCAST, COMPLETE
WITH AN ON-SCREEN TARGETING SYSTEM,
MAGNIEIABLE SCOPE, MULTIPLE BRANCHING
PATHS AND DETAILED GRAPHICS DRAWN STRAIGHT
FROM THE ARCADE ORIGINAL. AND YES, THE
PRESIDENT IS STILL BEING HELD HOSTAGE.

YOU’RE THE SNIPER WHO’S SENT TO SAVE HIM.

ALL YOU’LL NEED IS A STEADY HAND, A GOOD EYE,
AND AN IRON STOMACH.

Playstation.^ 1

Dreamcast

Sega, Dreamcast, and the
Igc. Alt rights reserved.

Konami® is a registered trademark of Konami Co
Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks or trac

jnami Co., Ltd. PlayStation and the “PS" Family logo are registered trademarks,^ Sony Computer Entertainment
QThe ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interacfive Digital Software Association. ©2000 Konami of Artier

Macro ss: another
anime title stuck
in Japan

tx direct

Dreamcast News Network

X * * - J Jff

Conspiracy Entertainment's upcoming Lodoss
War RPG should appease US anime fans who
adored the classic series in video form.

Oh My Goddess! fans (who can read Japanese)
will want to keep an eye on Aah Megamisama!

22 Official #Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

It gives us great pleasure to announce that the Diablo-esque action
RPG, Record of Lodoss War , is actually coming to America...

> RELEASE UPDATE: Sammy has
announced that December 7th
will mark the official release date
of the Dreamcast version of

Guilty Gear X.

> RELEASE UPDATE: Media Factory
will also release Culdcept II in
Japan this winter. A sequel to the
popular PlayStation card
battle/table game, it requires you
to roll dice to move characters and
pick cards to summon monsters.

> RELEASE UPDATE: Generation X
will be porting Nine Lives/
Gainax's popular Princess Maker
series to Dreamcast/Japan. The
DC version, Princess Maker
Collection, will be a compilation
of PM 1 and 2, and is scheduled to
release in Japan on Jan. 25. A
non-interactive demo of PM IV
will be included with the game.

JAPANESE IMPORT UATCH

Dreamcast East

As one of the last bastions of Japanese

gaming to consistently elude the US market
(besides girlfriend sims, of course), titles based on
anime licenses rarely manage to survive the trip
across the pond to the West. Blue Submarine No.
6, the quirky photo-sim Card Captor Sakura and

Cardice is following in the footsteps of Gundam:
Side Story 0079' s all the way to the US: courtesy
of newly formed DC publisher, Conspiracy Enter-
tainment. Scheduled for a December release, the
game remains fairly faithful to the original Lodoss
War anime series— with the heroic swordsman

> NARhET UATCH: Following its price
cut to $149 and $150 ISP rebate,
Sega Dreamcast sales increased
156.5 percent between July 23
and Sept. 23, PC Data revealed. In
the five weeks since the price
reduction, Sega’s share of the
market has increased to 29.9 per-
cent of all unit sales and 39.7
percent of revenue. Sony's share
has also increased to 49.0 percent
in unit sales and 42.3 percent in
revenue. The Nintendo 64 saw its
share decline to 20.8 percent and
17.9 percent for unit sales and rev-
enue respectively. Through the first
three weeks of September, Sega
moved up to claim the top position
among sports publishers, while
placing second overall behind
Nintendo. According to PC Data,
NFL 2K1 for Dreamcast is the top-
selling title of the month so far.

ISE UPDATE: Sega says that
new Dreamcast 4X Memory
ard will have 800 blocks/4MB

>f memory (four times the current
VMU), separated into four banks of
200 blocks each.

It’s successful on US TV, but chances for a US con-
version of Card Captor Sakura’s game are slim.

FVI NEUS FEED

> DELAV: Unreal delayed until Jan.

> RUMOR: Sega plans to release a
3D Expansion Card for DC, which
would upgrade the system to the
equivalent of a Naomi 2 board, so
that the Naomi 2 arcade titles can
be ported perfectly. The Naomi 2
is reported to have four times the
power of the existing
Naomi/Dreamcast hardware.
Sega HQ denies these rumblings.

> RELEASE UPDATE: Media Factory
announced a new DC real-time war
sim called Alexander: The Road
to Persia, to be released in spring
2001 in Japan. Players control King
Alexander and his troops, and bat-
tle rivals to expand the kingdom.

Wow’s quiz-tastic Ahh Megamisama! are just a few
that will likely give us a miss.

But we have this to say to anime fans in the US:
don’t lose hope! It gives us great pleasure to
announce that ESP and Neverland’s Diablo-e sque
action RPG, Record of Lodoss War: Advent of

Parn, as well as his love interest (the forest elf, ^
Deedlit) on the character roster. The game, itself, (]
features realtime battles between up to four play-
ers and various beasts and monsters, and massive
dungeons just ripe for the crawling. We hope that
this is the first indication of a trend in the making!

DRERHCflST UITH BIZhITS AMD GROW \

This Bizkit Ain't Limp!

SegaNet. takes its show on the mad with the hand

“If you get your ass kicked, it’s probably me
on the other end of the line,” says SegaNet
member Fred Durst. Durst originally
gained notoriety (and adulation) as the
frontman of Limp Bizkit, and now he’s
staking out new territory in the public
domain as one of Dreamcast’s
premier online hellraisers.

As if.' you say? Well, Durst and
the band are ready to prove their
Dreamcast prowess to all of you
doubting Thomases (and doubting
otherses, as well), in online tournaments
to be held at Limp Bizkit concerts in 45 cities
nationwide. These combat zones are an integral
part of the band’s Sega Net-sponsored tour for its

band strutting its proverbial stuff, but will get to throw
down on Dreamcast’s Ultimate Fighting Champi-
onship against one of the musicians. The best
part— or the worst, if you suck— is that these
“Rumbles with a Rockstar” will be pro-
jected on the giant stage screen, in front
of thousands of screaming concert-goers.
And even if you don’t get to go head-to-
head with Fred Durst, you can visit Sega’s
on-site Mobile Assault Tour (MAT) trucks,
which are guaranteed to be stocked with
games like NFL2K1, WSB2K1, Space
Channel 5 and Metropolis Street Racer.

This total sensory assault could be heading

your way, soon— at print time, only dates through

says SegaNet member Fred Durst.

new album, Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog- November 21 were

Flavored Water. confirmed. Just log

One ticket buys two joys: lucky fans (picked by local onto SegaNet for
radio stations) will not only get to see their favorite updated tour details.

WE'RE ALL ABOUT HISTORY HERE AT
ODCM. So we were wicked excited to hear
about Steven L. Kent's new book, which
videogames from their earliest beginings
all the way up to (and including) our favorite
system of today, the Dreamcast.

Kent, a columnist for our sister pub, Next
Gen, is a major game historian, and it shows in
this 400+ page definitive look at the birth and
growth of the game industry.

This isn't a textbook, though — Kent makes
a serious effort to bring the history to life with
hundreds of quotes from hundreds of key figures
in the game industry— including David Rosen,

the founder of Sega, Yuji Naka, Yu Suzuki, and
about 400 others. It does sometimes get a little
dry, and there's too much focus on Nintendo for
our Sega-flavored tastes, but if you're at all
interested in gaming, it never gets boring.

Want to stuff your own stocking?

The book is available (for now) exclu-
sively on Amazon.com, and you can
find more info by heading over to
Steve's descriptive webpage at
http://members.
aol.com/
stevenkent.

roprrnx

fined irue 5iroF\e rsieap^esnr
vou bv going ~iro
WWW.TQPMaXBaMe5.COM

PLRySIRTIOn

ELIGIBILITY: Sweepstakes open only to residents of the U.S. only.
Employees of Sega of America. Imagine Media (Sponsors), its affil-
iates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, persons
(jiving in the same household and families of each are not eligible.
Bfpid where prohibited by law. By participating in this promotion,
Bgitrant agrees to abide by and be bound by these Official Rules
rad the decisions of the judges.

KNERAL- All federal, state, provincial and local laws and regula-
tions apply. Potential winners must respond to any required
Rfidavit of Eligibility/Release of Liability Form within 14 days of
attempted delivery of same. Noncompliance within this time
period will result in disqualification and forfeiture of each prize.
Winners will be notified by mail sometime after March 1st. 2000.
No substitution or transfer of prize permitted, unless prize is gen-
erally unavailable at sweepstakes' end, in which case a prize of
comparable or greater value will be substituted. All federal, state
and local taxes are the sole responsibility of winner. Acceptance
of prize offered constitutes permission to use winner's name for

24 Official

▻ DC CONTEST,

WIN STUFF

JE’RE GIVING IT flURV

ontes

Wanna win a monkey barrel full
of goodies from Sega? Read on...

SEGA OF AMERICA DREAM CAST INC. AND THE OFFICIAL

Dreamcast Magazine invite you (yes, you) to shake things up — in
our exclusive, maraca-riffic "Who's Your Amigo?" Contest
(which was originally titled the "Touch Our Monkey" Contest,

Win a full Samba de Amigo set-up, including
a copy of the game and the requisite maracas.

until good taste prevailed). Three lucky entries will win
a full Samba de Amigo set-up, including a copy of
the game and the
requisite maracas,
and seven other
Samba - lovers will score
a copy of the game and
some seriously cool Samba
goodies. Do we even need to tell
you that these babies are being
released in very limited numbers? So you'll
be among the few, the proud, the Samba - tastic to have a set of maracas
and a copy of the game to call your very own.

Just send a standard-sized postcard with your name and address
on it to the address shown below by March 1, 2001.

We'll collect them and draw the winners
out of a giant sombrero (as
modeled above by ODCM's own
Associate Editor, Evan Shamoon).

Now, who's your amigo? Well, of
course... we are!

ATTN: ODCM Samba Contest
P.O. Box 7639

San Francisco, CA 94120-7639

Okay, Idds. How hard can tt be to send us a postcard?
Especially when toe return on this tiny Investment
Is so downright HUGE. If you win this contest,
you’ll get everything In Samba but toe monkey.
And who needs monkeys, when you’ve got us?

advertising/trade purposes without further compensation, unless
prohibited by law.AII entries must be received no later than March
1st, 2001, with the winners being announced on or around April
1st, 2001. The drawing will be held by Sega of America, Dream-
cast Inc. By entering this contest, you agree that the Official Sega
Dreamcast Magazine, Imagine Media, and the other contest spon-
sors may use your name and information for promotional
purposes without further payment. All prizes will be awarded and
no minimum number of entries is required. Prizes won by minors
will be awarded to their parents or legal guardians. Imagine
Media is not responsible for damages or expenses that the win-
ners might incur as a result of receipt of the prize, and winners
are responsible for income taxes based on the value of the prize
received. A list of winners may also be obtained by sending a
stamped, self-addressed envelope to P.O. Box 7639, San
Francisco. CA 94120-7639. This contest is limited to residents of
the United States. No purchase necessary; void in Arizona.
Maryland, Vermont Puerto Rico, and where prohibited by law.

SPREAD THE WORD

electronics boutioue

AOL KEYWORD: EBWORLD

DRIVER A

-Greets colleagues with a firm
self-confident handshake.

-Dated cheerleaders in high school.
-Has lipstick on underwear.
-Smokes after sex.

Welcome to Metropolis Street Racer where going fast i§Trt-enough, -you've gotta go .fast and look
good. MSR 15 W onlji racing game where you're judged on KUBfis (points based on style) as well
as speed. MSR also features amazing recreations of real cities. London, Tokyo, and San Francisco,
are shown in incredible detail, right down to the street sjgrfs antk’radio station), ,So check out
Metropolis Street Racer and see if you've got what it takes to maintain an image at-180 mph.

DRIVER B

-Offers a limp and clammy handshake
that screams of Self doubt.

-Wasn’t allowed to date in high school
-Has superheroes on underwear.
-Apologizes after sex.

Dreamcast

EVERYONE

Yes, you can ci

fse the Defc

ffigTHE DASHI^iC

You're Vyse, a Blue Rogue pirate. And a
well-known ninny. Which sucks. So sail
the vast 3D sky in your killer airship.
Discover unchartered floating islands.
Fight evil pirates. With 70 weapons and
36 magic skills, you'll kick ass by the
boatload. You'll be captain of your own
ship with 22 crew members. You'll conquer
the enemy nation. Then everyone will
respect you. And they'll call you Vyse. the
Legend. Which rocks. Unless you don't
fight. Then you're just a wuss.

Dreamcast

sega.com

SEGA is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. SEGA, Dreamcast. the Dreamcast logo, and SKIES OF ARCADIA are registered trademark
CORPORATION or its affiliates. 'SEGA CORPORATION, 2000. All Rights Reserved. Original game * SEGA. 2000. ' SEGA / OVERWORKS. INC.. 2000.

mr srm even! 'ns me season to

People say ifs belter to give
than to receive. These people are
generally idiots. The only kind of giving
we enjoy consists of handing out
itemized lists of presents we want to
receive for the holidays. These are the
games you absolutely, positively, without
a doubt must have. So stop being
naughty and start being nice, lest you
end up with a stocking stuffed with coal
and seven copies of Soul Fighter ...

ream

BE &KEEW-. me ULTIMATE VC MSHUST

Fighting (hawcs.

Soul Calibur

Soul Calibur, with its flawless graphics
and sharp fighting engine, stands as the
Queen Mum of all 3D brawlers. Combat
pits two gorgeous weapon-wielding
warriors against each other in a
spectacular ballet of move
and countermove that can
only end with hurt feelings
and the desire to play
one more round—
or a thousand.

Dead or Alive 2

Although it’s not as deep (there,
we said it) as Soul Calibur, Dead
or Alive 2 features some of the most

spectacular 3D fighters ever to grace a
videogame, plus gorgeous environments
that play an active part in every tussle.
DOA 2 supports up to four players, and
is a superb party game.

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike

At the top of the 2D heap, Third Strike
is the best version of the best game-
arguably— ever created (we believe this
took place on the so-called ‘seventh day’).
Arcade-perfect in every way, it’s as good
as it gets for Street Fighter-fans. This is a
whole new breed of polygonal fighting:
you must own a 2D fighting game.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Fist meets face repeatedly in this no-
holds-barred fighter. Players step into
the role of a UFC brawler and compete

in an eight-sided steel cage called the
Octagon. Battles are, to steal from
ODCM pet philosopher John Hobbes,
“nasty, brutish, and short”— fighters can
try to knock each other out with fierce
attacks, or perform a tortuous hold
painful enough to make opponents
cry “Uncle!” and “Mommy!”

Power Stone

Easily one of the most overlooked
videogames of all time, the original
Power Stone stands alone for its
capacity to plumb the depths of
3D play. Fighters can go virtually
anywhere and pick up virtually
anything— and then throw it at
opponents. Crazy-non-stop-intense
paced action: if you’ve beaten the
big boys, try beating this game.

NAUGHTY
UST •

Mortal
Kombat Gold

Rehashed gore from the
days of yore, MK Gold
doesn’t hold a candle to
the fine fighting lineup on Dreamcast.
Until the MK franchise does some

reinventing, only hardcore
fans will find any
goodness here. Keep
away from eyes: in
case of contact, flush
inflamed areas with
warm water.

SEAMAN

SAMBA PE PMGO

COASTER WORKS

Weird and Wacky baiMes

Tired of the same ol’-same oP fighters or sports
games? Need to add a little weirdness to your
gaming life?

a better coaster from scratch...and to ride out the
kinks, all the way to glory. You’ll have to work out
the physics and the construction, but it’s cool,
addictive and padded with a no-vomit policy.

The premier Dreamcast party game, it's frantic
action coupled with an excellent soundtrack:

videogame crack. Bouncing blue dots
show a player what height and what time
► ' A to shake the maracas. Rattle well, and

you’re rewarded. Rattle poorly, and you
will make the monkey cry. Do not make
* ..z&A the monkey cry.

PRINCESS

MAKER COLLECTION

Build a coaster and the joyriders will
come. A modest hit in its homeland of Japan,

Xicat hopes that gamers on the global scale will
get an even bigger rush from this chance to build

Okay, technically this game has about a
snowball's chance in hell of releasing in
the US, but it still makes our list. It's
one of those creepy sim games in
which you're a Daddy who
adopts the daughter he’s
always longed for: and now
he’s set with the task of
raising her to legal age.

Mold her into a princess—
or the leading lady of evil. ■ ,

32 Official Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2006

Coupled with a microphone for voice
interaction, Seaman the misanthropic fishman
is a niche gamer’s dream. Raise him from egg-
hood; teach him life, love and sundry things while
he insults you and probes your personal life. A
disturbing gem, but a gem nonetheless. If Woody
Allen was reading this feature— and we assume he
is— Woody, you’ll LOVE it.

SEVENTH CROSS: EVOLUTION

Level up from a mere amoeba to an evolved
killing machine... It’s either the strangest
game ever or life as we know it. Simple, odd
and somewhat engrossing, sim fans may want
to give Seventh Cross a second look. Warning:
> don’t look too closely.

www.Dadykadar.com'

Santa's Bag of Swag

Crazy Taxi

Insanity and genius often go hand in hand. This
is certainly true for the comic hack sim Crazy
Taxi. Players step into the role of a devil-may-care
San Francisco cabbie and ferry a zoo of colorful
passengers to and fro. Taxi is the perfect game for
those who want to be solidly entertained for short
periods of time. Like us. Or a kitten with thumbs.

Soul Fighter

What could’ve happened to what
could’ve been a rather cool arcade-
style beat ’em up? Bad cameras,
lousy controls and some half-baked
ideas got in the way of our fun, and
turned Soul Fighter into a bland
exercise in mediocrity. What a shame.

SONIC PLUSH TOYS

COMPANY: SEGA
PRICE: $13 each

fiction

Nice UST NAUGHT/ UST

Sega.com has had everyone’s favorite
hedgehog and four of his friends done
up in delicious high-quality
felt. These huggable toys are
built to last, and
they won’t break
the proverbial
bank— or your
teeth, if you’re
inclined to chew
on them.

MDK2

A third-person perspective 3D shooter, MDK2 serves
up plenty of murder, death, and killing (a.k.a.,
murder). Players control janitor-turned-hero Kurt
Hectic, the eccentric Dr. Hawkins, and the gruff
mech mutt Max as they plow their way through
eye-pleasing worlds, shooting endless hordes of
scumsucking alien types. Tough love at its best.

Jet Grind Radio

Ultra-hip graf kids paint the town technicolor,
while outsmarting local authorities. Like
Scooby Doo for the new generation
without the supernatural hi-jinks and with
jet-powered inline skates rather than a
Mystery

that

responsive controls and
incredibly cool premise. Watch
learn, kids, then watch again as
companies rip off JGR’s concept and
play for generations of games to come.

"wwwTIrea mcastmaga21ne.com

we night aeeoRe.

Something i op
on the roof I ”
said in surprise;
X Ton to the
and

peered up inside,
;+ was,
it was already

Stuck --

Xn the Chimney,
some hind
of slip-covered

truck..

Nice LIST

Metropolis Street Racer

A long-awaited game on Dreamcast has finally
arrived... And it turns out that Bizarre Creations did
indeed create one of the most spectacular racers
ever. They were telling the truth! Using an innovative
"Kudos" points system and shifting your beloved
gray box into overdrive to handle the new demands,
MSR tries plenty of cool things that other racers
haven’t dared. Arcade fans— check it out.

Test Drive LeMans

Got a few hours to spare? Got, like, a whole day? Le
Mans may be the best way to spend the
extra time. It’s shockingly good. From the a
same development team— Melbourne jd

House— that created the fourth entry yr

on this list ( Looney Toons Space ..

Race), Test Drive Le Mans not only V' f y \
incorporates intriguing tire-dependent Isn 'L '
handling, but it’s darn purty to look at
as well. And yes, the 24-hour mode
is for real.

SF Rush 2049

Arcade conversion done right,
ra fS lHK Midway’s outrageously over-the-top
racer proves that sequels don’t
necessarily have to be derivative.

| 1st** 4 Speeding along twisty, turny

tracks in a crazy tricked-out
futuristic hovercar is great-
now, add in loads of shortcuts and other
goodies that are fast-becoming staples in the series,
and you have something quite special.

Looney Toons Space Race

Easily the best of the Dreamcast ‘wacky racing’ lot
(yes, even better than Wacky Races itself!), Space
Race combines the best elements of WipEout and
Mario Kart into one hella fun package. The graphics
are wonderful. ..and you gotta love watching Wile E.
Coyote plummet to his death over and over in real
time. Forget IKEA this Christmas: go for Acme!

NAUGHTY
LIST \

Test Drive 6

Okay, okay. The possibility certainly exists that there
are games worse than Test Drive 6. However, you are
unlikely to ever come across a racing game as
uninspired, flat and— dare we say it— blase as this
dud. Stay far, far away.

34 Official d^fVeamcast Magazine Holiday

.com

Ideally, a Dreamcast should be played not on an
entertainment system, but in an entertainment
environment called the ODCM Dream DC Setup.
We’ve tallied up all of the elements necessary to
create the perfect gaming biosphere and listed
them below— so go to it, you yaks who went public
this year and have money to burn!

I.T. LEVEL 3UVGB T

1. JVC D201 Television

w/ Surround Sound ($400)

2. APEX AD500A DVD
Player ($100)

3. Economy-size box
Chocodiles ($30)

ENGINEER LEVEL EUPSET

1. Sony Wega 36” Flatscreen TV ($1900)

2. Sega S-Video Cables ($20)

3. RCA AV Selector ($20) ^ ^

4. Monster S-Video Cables ($30) 'W'M

5. Economy-size bag V ; ;

Wasabi Peas ($40)

SALES LEVEL EUPS-ET

1. Princeton Arcadia 38”
monitor ($2300)

2. Sega VGA Box ($50) jf,

3. S4 Midiland 8200
Speakers ($329)

4. Marantz 300-disc DVD
Jukebox ($1500)

5. Economy-size box
Pecan Sandies ($50)

CBO IBVBl PUPPET

1. Pioneer Pro 710 HD Model TV ($8300)

2. Speakercraft In-ceiling Subwoofer ($1800)

3. Nakamichi
SoundSpacel2 w/DVD

4. Economy-size box of atT^

Fran Pocky (¥700) |

5. Round-trip ticket to Japan
to purchase Pocky
($3500+)

NICB LIST

T+ ticked Its 10013 downward / it QaspeA and wheeled;
1+ mu++ered rn what sounded uke Japanese.
1+ kerpiopped on i-t-s backside,
uahen -Finally -Prefc--

NBA2K1

The only facet of modern basketball not
included in NBA 2K1 is the face of now-
retired basketball star Michael Jordan,
hawking Ball Park franks and everything else.
A sequel to the praiseworthy NBA 2K,

NBA 2K1 takes the basketball franchise
online and improves it
with additional character
animations and a neat mm/-
Franchise Mode (where I
you can create and
manage your own
team). And it’s online
compatible. Boo-yah.

KFL2K1 / *

The taste of turf is delicious indeed. Sega
improved its potent football license in every
way, with ultra-realistic looking
characters who breathe smoke
on co ' d da y s and P er ^ orm
stunning dives, tackles, and
pp CTHMbI\ leaps. The weak running

game that dominated in the
yi'V original has been resculpted

to allow the video fullbacks
and halfbacks to perform as they would in
real life. And you can play it online!

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2

Send skateboarder Tony Hawk straight up a
ramp and into a series of beautiful spins,

twists, grinds and grabs, defying gravity for
what seems a breathless eternity...the
W \ satisfaction cannot be captured

f 8 C3 in the confines of a mere

sentence. Videogame nirvana.

NAUGHTY

LIST

S+ood up, turned around, and ran right lute me

NFL Quarterback Club 2000

This oldie proved to be the furthest thing from a
goodie, with stiff plays and poor animations. If
you're begging for some good ol’ QBC
action, skip the bargain bin and
head for the new releases. \

AT r\ Virtua Tennis

^ Under normal circumstances,

f\ the only thing less interesting than real
** tennis would be Virtua Tennis — but VT
gets ODCM’s nod as Most Addictive Game Ever.
With these superb graphics and an equally
excellent control system, up to four people can
storm the court and lose hours, days and weeks.

SONIC APVENTURE
ACTION FIOURE

So here toe were, berth of us, caught act
X with my Dream cast and he with his sack-

COMPANY: RESAURUS
PRICE: $18.00/or $6.99 each
Petite and sweet, these are the
mini-action figures to beat for
Sonic Adventure. Equipped with
rings and other tiny goodies,
not only are these guys fully
poseable, but they’re incredibly
affordable as well.

iamcastr

NICE LIST

Resident Evil — Code: Veronica

The ungrateful dead have returned yet again
to plague heroine Claire Redfield. She’s been
captured and taken to a secret island where,
of course, the most perfect sort of horror ensues.
Capcom hits its highest note yet with this zombie
epic; it is truly gorgeous and titanic in scope.

Rayman 2: The Great Escape

Never has a game been so aptly subtitled.

Rayman 2 is simply a great escape— a fantastical
little platformer that never forgets that games should
be immersive and enjoyable. Ubi Soft has created a
stunning world complete with vibrant colors, dancing
clouds, dank swamps, and bubbling lava for
the lovable little moppet Rayman
to explore.

Shenmue : Chapter
1 — Yokosuka

Yes, the man of the hour, Ryo
Hazuk, can kick ass and take
names. Yes, he has a repertoire
of face-banging, bone-crunching
martial arts techniques that would stress out even
the master Bruce Lee. Yes, he’s a responsible

hero/family guy on a quest to avenge his
father’s death. But he’s also a Jet Cola addict.
And he collects toys and plays daddy to a kitten. And
at times, he’s even sensitive. Jeez, this guy must be
human! And this must be one of the top adventures
to date, on any system. •

NAUGHTY
LIST .

The Ring: Terror’s Realm

Or The Ring: terror’s realm. It’s like, scary
bad. With all of the cool games in Japan
that never made it across the pond to the
US, why did Infogrames pick up this little
monster for Stateside release? Poor
presentation, bland graphics and incredibly repetitive
gameplay.Jt’s a real conundrum. Skip it unless you
like the smell of burning dollars.

*1 don't fill your stocking if
you don't count sheep?

PC Y2K: ALL PRBAMCAST, ALL THE TIME

February March a ■,

January

In springtime a young gamer's
fancy turns to love, and did we
ever love March! With the debuts
of Code: Veronica. DOA 2 and
MDK 2, it was a genre-
smashing dream. ,, ^

The three-month-old Dreamcast
is a walkin’, talkin’ genius!
Shenmue releases
in Japan; saliva " *0*

releases in the US.

Marine Fishing and other titles
released at the arcade show
(AOU2000) in Tokyo get an
overwhelming response from
fans. One guy turns into a fish
to show his support.

Poo-CHI arrives in the office. **

For three weeks, we try to teach him to
fetch. Then we go back to using Evan to
bring us stuff.

Ulala, fresh from taking over E3,
dances her way into our hearts. In
Japan, gamers stop Left-
Right-Left-Right Sit!

Sit! Sitting long ft
enough to pick up fw ifik
Jet Set Radio. ffl/M 9

Sega’s line-up and booth DESTROY the
competition. Over 100 new games are
shown, with another 100+
announced. The games are so
good, we almost forget to watch
the booth babes. Almost.

Sega blows past the two
million system sales mark in ^
North America— that means
Canada, too! (See, we
didn’t forget you were
* /up there.)

Grandia II releases in Japan and
tops the charts. Hype heats up
for the US release; our preview
is so hot it burns our fingers
(“Fran, what do we do with f
these oven mitts? Yeeeow! Oh.”)

October

December

September

November

Dreamcast’s Santa-san gives up
the goods for all of us! Catch
y’all in 2001...we’H be the /
smug ones playing ML

Phantasy Star Online.

While the PS2 fanboys wait in line, DC
owners relax online with Quake III, NBA
2K1 and Metropolis Street Racer. Chris has
a one (whole) night stand with Test Drive
Le Mans and falls in love.

SegaNet! At last! Evan plays NFL 2K1 and
quickly racks up an unbelievable 1 and 41
record. Ouch! His one victory was a “mercy
game" thrown by an eight-year-old in
Scranton, PA.

>2/ Tony Hawk 2 appears. Evan disappears.

If you see him (or our copy of the game),
tell him to send a postcard. And we want
our GDROM back.

36 Official # Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.Daiiykaaar.com

x ) had to think fast. I had
to be clc/er-A had to keep
Santa front leaving forever.*

Vep.TVva+S uihat ;+ said-

u Vou're Santa!" x shouted- * Hand over -the loot i.

Santa's Bag of Swag

11" TAIL some
THE HEP£EH 00

COMPANY: RESAUROS
PRICE: $19.99

Remember this guy from way back
In ODCM Issue 067 While we have
yet to find this poseable, hard plastic
Sonic doll In any horror movies, we are
currently shopping the Idea around to
Him studios. A cool gift, nonetheless.

Nice LIST

Skies of Arcadia

The sky, thankfully, is not the limit here.

Sega’s new RPG strikes a roguish
pose with a swashbuckling pirate
named Vyse, whose heart of gold
will melt the hearts of every steely-
eyed gamer— even yours. Set in
a series of floating islands,

Skies is epic in scope
and packed with
scads of things to do and
discover. If this game was
any bigger, it would have to
get its own zipcode. Only
drawback? You might
forget to eat. Or sleep...

Grandia It

When asked to sum up Grandia
It’s great appeal, an Ubi Soft
representative stated simply that
“200 people + 2.5 years of total
dedication = awesome gaming
experience.” Every facet of
this game seems to reek
of someone’s hard work,
from the 3D characters who
exhibit more facial
expressions than most
Hollywood actors to the
game’s lovely, crackling
campfire flames. In a
word: Swee-eet! A
deserving sequel
to the classic original
on Saturn.

NAUGHTY
UST

Is there a bad RPG on Dreamcast?

Well. ..no. Not really. A dearth of
roleplaying games developed for the system has
left us panting for new titles —
and whenever they appear, in whatever guise,
they’re a welcome oasis. Really, though, the very
worst DC RPGs are only mediocre (Time Stalkers,
EGG) or simplistic ( Evolution ) rather than truly
tragic. Heck, bring ’em all on. Please, Sega?

“www^reamcastrnagazlne.com

Neu> Dreamcast games, joysticks and light guns

to boot ! ! ”

But Santa- san Shook his head Calbeit sadly).
Regrettably, sir, you're behaving quite badly-
Vou're still playing Dreamcast; you should be

asleep- -

X doryt fill your stocking if you don’t count sheep.”

x had to think
X had to
be cieuer-- x
had to keep Safitn
from leaving

■Porever •

Hey Sflftta-san ! How '
'bout a 9a(ne+o decide
Whether x qe+ to
keep stiff, or i-F

k i'» denied ?

\JI \‘\)r While the US does get some neat Sega goodies,

there’s no question that if the US and Japan had an
armwrestling match over who got the coolest swag, the US would be
toting its sprained wrist to the ER in about two seconds flat. Shenmue cell
phone straps and hot pink Sakura Taisen Dreamcasts— ouch! And our
pissant stuffed animals are nothing compared to the horrifically cute
totems produced by the Japanese videogame merchandising
machine. Oh, how we wish these little guys would
creep beneath the ODCM tree this year!

x cuia /

A you leave all of
^Dneamcas+s fop
games — plus
every peripheral
used wi-tfi -fte same'

Kyaro Inflatable Toy

Ours was a freebie handed out at the Spring
Tokyo Game Show, but Japanese gamers
can buy and cuddle up with Grandia II’ s
sadistically cute mascot, Kyaro (Carro in
the US). It’s wearable, as well! Kawaii!

xf you Win , ^
uueil -that means
I'm just out of
luck • • • find
i'll leam to
live wi+h a
S+ockihy of sock

Sonic Jelly Keychains

^ Color-coordinated for the new
generation, these keychains are
not only cheap but hip (come
J on, aren't they?). We stumbled
^ across these goodies on a trip to
Japanese superstore Tokyo Joypolis
(known to gamers as Buy-opolis).

Sakura Taisen Art Books

Who said that all of those wacky
Sakura Taisen fans loved the games
for their gameplay? Well, actually a
lot of them do, but an equal amount love the
artwork of the numerous lovely fightin’
ladies. And where better to check out
the gals of the Sakura games
than the official art books?

you dll
of VredwCdsfs
top games.

He grabbed a
Control ter
and pu lied up
a. chair-

Eternal Arcadia „ ■

Limited Box-set «Kli

The term “jackpot" only bigger ■ \rnli

would describe the Special Edition -
boxed set of Sega’s uber-RPG, Eternal
Arcadia (Skies of Arcadia in the US). Sniff.
Who wants to bet we won’t see Cupil
keychains or a nifty art book arriving in a
(signed) box with our US version?

X bfought oiH* some sodas and
• -fUdqe- coueoai qraVxxms ;

popped »n Souj CcxWbur;
0 gat ready +o jQpO-

www.DailyRadar.com

Animated Blood
Animated Violence

1 y\jimefess fegend. /\n epic acfventure

Dreamcast

“Record OfLodoss War.
looks and sounds
brilliant on the
Dreamcast”

Record Of Lodoss War...

Mil definitely satisfy
' Dreamcast owning
Diablo fans”

-www.gamespot.com

www.igndc.com

ENTERTAINMENT

Experience the world of Record of Lodoss War up close and personal in an epic 3D action/RPG only for Sega Dreamcast.
Take control of a mysterious warrior from the past, resurrected to save the future, on a colossal quest filled with pulse
pounding action and high adventure. Join forces with popular characters from the Lodoss universe and combat hundreds
of vicious enemies with dozens of spectacular spells and customizable weapons.

© 1998 RYO MIZUNO, GROUP SNE, MASATO NATSUMOTO/"RECORD OF LODOSS WAR"PROJECT/ TV TOKYO © 2000 Kadokawa Shoten Publishing/ESP. © 2000 Conspiracy Entertainment. Sega, Dreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of

(for really big socks)

TopMax Enforcer TopMax ($29.99)

Cheaper, but design is top quality. It’s a good
alternative to the pricey AgeTec, but it’s a little
lighter in its base. If you’re not looking for
the steel-heavy feel in your stick, then *

you won’t be disappointed.

We love our games, but we love them more

when we get to play ’em as well as they can possibly be
played— on great peripherals that go the distance to enhance
our collective gaming experience. Dreamcast has some
serious keepers in its library, courtesy of Sega and various
third parties. Check ’em out, and tell the pertinent people with
pockets just exactly how you’d like your stocking stuffed.

VMUS ANP
MEMORY
CARPS

The Dream Pad MadCatz ($29.99)

This sharp controller sports six gameplay buttons on its face
and two analog triggers underneath. It’s built for

comfort with rubberized palm grips— and its
k reasonable price is seductive.

Sega Official VMU Sega ($24.99)

Available in all flavors of the rainbow (except for pina colada), Sega’s
own VMU is still the best choice for DC gamers. The

only drawback is the fact that the battery is ^

quickly eaten up with regular use. But
' at least you’ll never have to deal with jBm /ab

® Dreamcast corrupted data again.

Tremor Pak Plus

Interact ($19.99)

All the rumbling and saving (with 200 blocks) you need in one
handy package. That's a whole lotta goodness, but you won't
Cv. have a LCD screen for VMU mini-games. Keep in mind that it’s

® g, an unofficial peripheral, and might not work with all DC games.

Agetec Arcade Stick

Agetec ($49.99)

W The official arcade stick of choice. It has a
W solid base, quality buttons and a high
asking price— but if you want to get the
most out of your arcade fighters, this is
your answer. We all have one at home, and
we didn’t even get
them for free.

40 Official # Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

lar.com

Coal or Two?

SONIC SCH0OLH0USE

KOLIBRI V

•SEGA 32X, SEGA

A hummingbird. Who shoots
from his beak. Okay, sure. This ill-
defined shooter defined the target
market for 32X. I.e., none at all.

MAKE YOUR OWN MUSIC VI VBO
W/ C&C MUSIC FACTOR/

•SEGA CD, 1992

“Gonna make you sweat.” Gonna wear deoderant.

A fortune cookie once said that those who
forget the past are doomed to repeat it. So
we’re going to remind you of a couple of
system stinkers that we NEVER want to see
again, in any guise, in any format. Even cel-
shaded. These are the games we’d wish on
our worst enemies, if we had any enemies
bad enough to call ‘worst’.

• PC, 1996, SEGA

Who’s idea was it to turn Sonic
into “America’s favorite family
character” by making him teach
math to kids? We don’t know, but
we’re fairly sure they no longer
work in games. Or math.

•SATURN, 1996, ZONO, INC

Zono, Inc.’s secret recipe for Mr. Bones was
simple: one steam engine with cowcatcher and
one cow. This trainwreck featured the music of
the Bygone Dogs played by skeletons. Noooo...

NICWT TRAP

•SEGA CD, 1992, DIGITAL PICTURES

Dana Plato in jerky 160 x 120, 52-color video. It
wasn’t just senators who found this offensive.
FMV. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

•GENESIS, 1995, DEEP WATER

One of the last nails in Genesis’s coffin. This title
was so insipid that Sega didn’t even
send out review copies to the
press. This is the

equivalent of Mom ******

not sending your ./ # *

Sears portraits , /

to Grandma. . ^

Poor, fuggly
little game. .

•He was prfL++y damn qooi,

I was -pre.-r+y damn better-

Santa's Bag of Swag

SPACE CHANNEL 5
MINI-LUNCHBOX

COMPANY: PALISADES MKTG
PRICE: $5-6

Just the right size far packing away DC games or
system cables, these mlnfcollectlbles are tiny, but
they’re simply must-haves at their very low asking
price. Look for 'em In a videogame store near you.

Panther DC >

[MadCatz] ($39.99)

For the PC gamer in every

Dreamcast FPS fan comes one Js$

of the coolest accessories for tsF

the system: the Panther DC. IjJ

With a trackball for movement and JBpP

a stick (complete with all the

necessary buttons) for shooting, firing

and general havoc-wreaking, this is your one stop

shop/armory for upcoming games like Half-Life

and Soldier of Fortune. With smooth controls, it’s

a great alternative to the mouse and keyboard.

Dream Connection 3-in-1

Level Six ($27.95)

Imagine being able to toot around on your
Dreamcast with any sort of peripheral, from
IjKgx PlayStation controllers to PC keyboards to
KjjPL Sega Saturn steering wheels. It’s a dream
EPrafcscome true, and it’s readily available from
mm Level Six. A mini-device with a separate
power supply, you simply hook it to your
DC, then hook in your peripheral of choice
through the Dream Connection. Voila!

Rumble Rod MadCatz ($29.99)

If you can’t get your hands on the official fishing
reel controller from Sega, MadCatz has a grand
alternative in its authentically modeled Rumble
Rod. It conveys all of the vibrational oddities of
Sega’s two stellar fishing titles— if you can find it.
It’s hot.

Took the. shirt <opf his back, plus that
natty red sweater-

DC Mouse

Sega ($19.99)

The one and only mouse for
Dreamcast, this is a must ^*0
have for net cruisers and /

Quake III fans. If you already

have a keyboard, so much the

better— the mouse is part and parcel of

the Internet experience. With two-button control

along with a wheel and side button to boot, what

are you waiting for? Get squeaking!

Gameshark CDX

Interact ($49.99)

The standard for code junkies is now available to
DC owners. Plenty of options and a weird ability to
play import games— tres cool, indeed.

Compatibility issues are always a
^ question, but we haven’t had any
problems with ours thus far.

■k MadCatz MC2
71 Racing Wheel

'^7 MadCatz ($59.99)

We accept the MadCatz
HL_, MC2 Racing Wheel as our
T lord and savior. The wheel
and pedal combination allow
for some of the most realistic
racing around, and MadCatz
^m has spared no expense with a molded
wheel, prostyle shifter, and ultra-
M responsive foot pedals.

■He qav/e roe+he.
best Dreamcast
Stuff in his
ba9 • • .

Then hoisted
himself +0
the root

Cha Cha Amigo Maracas

Level Six ($57.95)

The price on those official maracas a little too rich

for your bargain-hunting blood? Then look

no further than Level Six’s

unofficial maraca controller for

all of your Samba needs. Level

Six claims that they’re more

accurate than the official ones, mm

but we have yet to see much of a

difference. Of course, that’s not ^

a bad thing.

Starfire Lightblaster

Interact ($29.99)

There’s only one game on Dreamcast
that uses the Starfire Lightblaster
or any other lightgun (House of
the Dead 2), but it’s well
worth the investment if
you own the game.

Face it, H0TD2 _

sucks without a v

lightgun, and ( W

Interacts well- % j

balanced, options- m v /

heavy periph is jla l

the best choice. |§ ajf

Eight -**») blue
hedghags leaped

ift+o -the night",

Drauiy his Sleigh
up, up , UP

ou-t- of Sight.

x watched from the
window, then curled
up in bed - •
-ijhile. visions of
Dreamcast qameS
dafiOzd. in my
head-

rreamcastmagazine.com

TWO

It was the best of
times... It was the best
time ever. ODCM’s
Prancesca Reyes
weathers epic battles
of Good versus Evil
and pixie versus gnome
in GameArts 5 Grandia 11
and Sega’s Sides of
Arcadia, only to find
that both of these
groundbreaking new
RPGs are fighting
to win.

GRANDIA II AND SKIES OF ARCADIA custom
Illustrations done by Naska C.
Original GRANDIA II AND SKIES OF ARCADIA character art
are copyrighted to their respective comapanles

PA-'

Fmding a Voice

One of the most praiseworthy choices
made during the US localization of Grandia
II was UbiSoft’s decision to go with a
proven, name brand quality voice record-
ing team. Rather than employing testers
from an internal QA department or draft-
ing handy friends to do the job (like other
companies tend to do, more often than
not), the company called in dialog diva
Kris Zimmerman to add real talent to the
task. Known for her work on Metal Gear
Solid (PS), she contributes a difference
you can taste. Spot-on acting is the key to
creating a cast of distinct personalities,
and it often culls the good games from
the great ones.

'-'•v

Thankfully, someone
has been listening.

With the release of Overworks'

Skies of Arcadia and the impending
launch of Game Arts’ anxiously
awaited Grandia II, we’re entering
what can only be called an enchanted
season for Dreamcast owners who like
their coffee black and their games
long— as in, 40-plus hours long.

While I played, I labored over
deciding which of the two titles is
the better (mythical) beast. And I
came to the conclusion that it
was impossible to find two more
drastically different— yet traditional—
RPGs. How different? Just read on...

Grandia

I can truthfully admit that I’m one

of the chumps who never finished the
original Grandia. I remember waiting
patiently for its US release on Saturn,
v and after being disappointed, I played

through more than half of the
PlayStation version in earnest.

But the weird translation and
horrid voice acting couldn’t keep
me enthralled for the length of
the journey— and it was a very
long journey.

But I wiped the slate clean
once I heard about Grandia II on
Dreamcast. After all, Game Arts—
the company responsible for two
of Sega CD’s finest moments, Lunar:
The Silver Star and Lunar: Eternal
Blue— had big plans, and looked
ready to take its know-how into the
third dimension, complete with
“mature” character designs and an
engrossing storyline. (Little was actu-
ally revealed about the game’s plot
during the time that its PR machine
was churning out images of a legend
in the making, other than the fact
that it would be “engrossing." But
we filled in the blanks.) Needless to
say, I was hooked from the word go.

Wine, Women
and Song

Grandia II takes place in a brand

new world, far different from that
of the original. It begins with the
introduction of a mercenary-type
Geohound called Ryudo. At the start
of the game, he and his avian partner
Skye are summoned to a small town
deep in the Black Forest, to receive
the orders for their next job: they
must escort a young, spiritual
songstress named Elena to a
mysterious ceremony in a
nearby tower.

From the first moment, Ryudo
and Elena clash. Elena’s naive, pious
nature rubs Ryudo— a tough-talking,
materialistic young rake— the wrong
way. But after Ryudo fulfills his duty
and takes Elena to the tower for her
ceremony, something goes horribly
wrong and the two are thrown
together on the same side of a divine

www OailyRadar.com

Environments show amazing attention to
detail. Designs for all of the various towns-
people, for instance, are heavily textured.

Jurplc lightning

When you have more than one person

your traveling party, they’ll trail behind

the lead character in a cool conga line.

But they don't shout “Conga! Conga!

So stop looking for the monkey.

struggle: between the people of Light
(like Elena and fellow followers of Lord
Granas, the holy deity in the world of
Grandia II) and the people of Darkness
(those who worship the “evil" god,
Valmar, whom ancient legends peg
as destroyer supreme). The conflict
stems from an ancient holy war, which
scarred the landscape and created the
Great Rift— a gaping crevice that
runs the length of the globe. It’s a
bottomless void, from which no one
has ever emerged.

From here on out, Grandia II adheres
to some of the best tried and true RPG
standards in storytelling that fans know
and love. Therefore, A) Every character
must come to terms with something
mysteriously dreadful or painful in his
or her past while developing into a
much more well-rounded person; B)

The entity that the party initially
believes to be the “root" of evil (small
‘e’) is in fact, just a small manifestation
of Evil (capital ‘E’); C) Big issues in

(virtual) life are never cast in black
and white; they’re merely shades
of pixel-pixie gray.

But all RPG fans worth their salt
know that even though a game may
seem like a By-the-Book RPG™ at first
blush, it’s the way the subjects are
presented that can really make it
something special. After all, all books
look the same; it’s what’s inside that
counts. And for the most part, Grandia II
does many of these things right.

The Text is Mightier
than the Sword

It’s become ever more important

in the RPG genre for US publishers to
get the localization of text just right. To
this end, UbiSoft deserves an ‘A’ for
effort. Every character, including
Ryudo, has been given a distinct
personality, each with his or her own
speech patterns, mannerisms and
even dialect. For instance, Mareg, a

beast man with a strong affinity for
nature, speaks in elaborate phrases
which seem more like parables than
actual dialog. And Ryudo speaks his
mind in the most straightforward
speech possible, never mincing words
and, at times, using pretty harsh
language to demonstrate his point.

But for all the effort and care
that’s been put into Grandia II’ s
dialog, I couldn’t help but feel that
once in awhile, something was very
much amiss. Conversations between
characters occasionally felt disjointed
and awkward in their arrangements,
which pulled me out of the world and
put me in a critiquing sort of mood.

Imagine you’re a writer who’s
given 100 pages of text that aren’t
arranged in any sort of order. Your
job is simply to rewrite whatever’s
on the page in front of you as it
appears, knowing that after you’re
done, someone else will come in
and arrange it in sequence »

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

GameArts' self-proclaimed "labor of love'
arrives at last on US shores, to put a new
Dreamcast star on the roleplaying map rtr*

Friend or Foe

Meet your fellow travellers! You're
going to be together, hand in glove, for
more than 40 hours: so you might as
well start getting to know each other.

Melfice

A mysterious figure from
Ryudo’s and Mareg’s
past, Melfice is out
for destruction at all
costs. Why? We won’t
spoil it. But we can say
he’s one cool villain.
Note: Great voice.

Mareg

Beastman of honor who
joins up with Ryudo to
track down the man who
nearly destroyed his entire
village. He hides a heart
of gold under that pelt.
Note: Speaks like a Hint
Stone reads in Ecco: DOTF.

Ryudo

The motor-mouth hero with
a chip on his shoulder
bigger than the Shirusen
Continent (you’ll find out
why). He’s stuck on Elena,
but he’d die before admit-
ting it. Note: Great abs.

Elena

A beautiful but naive
Songstress of Granas. Her
piety often gets in the way
of good relations with
Ryudo, but she can’t help
finding herself attracted
to his strong persona.
Note: Nice singing voice.

Millennia

A portal of Darkness and
servant of Valmar, she’s
not nearly as evil as she’d
like to be. In fact, she’s
fallen deeply in love with
Ryudo and’ll do anything
to help him. Note: Bra
suspended by disbelief.

Roan

A young, perky blond
on a journey to learn
more about the war
between Granas and
Valmar. Why? Well.. .we
could tell you, but then
we’d have to kill you.
Note: Lollipop Lane.

Tio

An automaton who has
only recently become
sentient through an act of
kindness by Mareg and
Co. She yearns to have
emotions and memories
like humans do.

Note: Awesome hair.

these fine specimens of Rift is more
likely to inspire dread in gamers? ODCM
would put money on The Dark Rift. We
admit that we’re still afraid of the dark.

The Rift-off:

Skies of Arcadia' s’Dark Rift

» by page number. Now, imagine
that the title heading all these pages is
Grandia II. The end result is thorough
and concise, but the lack of any real
cohesion or ‘flow’ in the text often
causes the context to seem out of
whack...if only ever so slightly. And
ultimately, the characters do suffer
from these visible omissions and
sleights of hand.

Ain't Love Grandia?

As surprising as it may seem at

the start of the game, the real crux of
Grandia II isn’t about the trouncing of
devils by angels or dark by light.
Instead, the heart of the storyline
is the relationship between Ryudo
and Elena— which is hopelessly
complicated by the intrusion of
Ryudo’s second love interest, Millennia.
She’s a big-busted vassal of Valmar,
who forcibly enters Ryudo’s life
near the start of the game. All three
characters are so drastically different
from one another that by the tenth
hour of the game, you just know

something’s cooking.

Between Ryudo’s sharp tongue,
Elena’s goodie-two-shoes schoolgirl act
and Millennia’s brazen sassiness, the
underlying current of tension has
grown so thick by hour No. 30 that you
could cut it with a dull broadsword.
And, strangely enough, this is where
the getting gets good. Up until this
point, I found the pacing of the story-
line to be a bit on the slow and steady
side: but the rising heat between
Ryudo and the girls succeeds in
cooking the pace into a brisk
simmer almost immediately.

This ‘love’ triangle was one of the
plot nodes in Grandia II that felt so
genuine that I found myself blazing
onwards sometimes simply to discover
what happened next. In fact, I could
almost do without all of the secondary
subplots. Almost.

In this sense, Grandia II follows the
path of similar RPGs like Final Fantasy
VIII. Remember that one? Romance,
relationships and a rather salty lead
character ( FFVIII’s Squall wasn’t the
most considerate guy on the block)

who comes off like a jerk until the
bitter end, when he suddenly gets all
moral and nice.

Well, Ryudo fits this bill perfectly...
and his brutish behavior often leaves
you wondering why Elena would be
as attracted to him as she is. And
though Ryudo is no squeaky clean Ryo
Hazuki (Shenmue), he does develop
into a kinder, gentler hero (albeit with
a trucker’s mouth) in the end. It’s a
turn-around bound to make those
RPG-playing ladies swoon.

In the end, Grandia II’ s storytelling
machine is strong enough to take you
through this change of heart without
embarrassing you or forcing you to
smack your forehead and moan
“Aaaggghhhh." The text is sometimes
clumsily delivered, and it may provoke
questions like “Why is he saying that?’’
or “What made her/him do that?” or
simply “Huh?”, but it’s generally clever
enough to convey emotional realism.
Fans will be enthralled— if not for the
love story then for the divine conflict.
Oh, and a kick-ass battle system
doesn’t hurt, either.

46 Official Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.DailyRadar.com

Welcome to RPG convention #172:

The handy abyss “from which no one
has ever returned." In Grandia II, this
mythical no-man’ s-land is hiding out near
the Grana Cliffs, and it’s called The Great
Rift. Billowing fog fills a bottomless canyon
that every soul avoids— except for the few
who had to go in and disappear in order
to make the point that no one gets out.

But look out, here comes Skies of
Arcadia with a rift of its own— refusing to
be left out of this battle of crevasses.

This one isn’t great so much as it’s dark:
it’s the Dark Rift, marked as a forbidding
blotch on the map. It, too, is a menace
from which no one has ever returned.
[Yawn, cue ominous laugh.]

Is this similarity an oddity or a given?
Actually, this whole Rift thing is a con-
vention that tears up the map in most
RPGs at around hour No. 30. Which of

Hh Grandia II 's combat

engine forces gamer to

Gameplay variety in Grandia II might not
include tons of mini-games or side
quests, but there’s definitely a good
amount of flexibility in its customization
features for spells and skills.

iM§i wipg!

Spell Trouble

With Grandia II ’ s unique battle
system, you’ll need to get to know your
spells and skills— they will usually dictate
the tide of every fight. Some of the
effects are amazingly crisp; just try high-
lighting Ryudo’s plethora of sword-sawy
moves (Purple Lightning) or Elena’s holy
destruction (White Apocalypse). But the
use of pre-rendered effects for some of the
big spells can sometimes seem a little
off-kilter when set against a fully
polygonal set of characters and enemies.

In the end, the visual result falls
squarely into the Love it or Hate it
category. I thought that there was some
unique flair added to the look of battles;
giving an oldskool flavor to a next genera-
tion game. But at times, I have to admit
that some of the effects were a little
strange— they seemed to suffer from an
odd lapse in design logic. When Millennia
uses her Fallen Wings skill, for example,
she is replaced by a quick 2D animated
simulcrum that casts the actual blow.
Why? We don’t know. But it’s cool.

Dungeon designs in this sequel are vastly improved over the original's
■raightforward layouts. Mazes feature interactive elements like simple
puzzles, which must be solved in order to progress. There are also traps
and secret passages, which combine to give a rich feel todungeons.

use real strategy and innovation in battle. Hfe*

Battle Royale

Beyond its characters, the

original Grandia was lauded for its
superb battle system. Why? Simply
because it was so unlike any other
traditional RPG’s combat engine: it
forced gamers to use real strategy,
planning and preparation. And while
some of the conventions introduced in
the first game have been modified for
the sequel, it’s still as fresh and fun
as ever. Really.

First off, there are no random
battles. I’ll say it again: No. Random.
Battles. Instead, your enemies are
visible onscreen, and you’ll have to
sneak up on them or prevent them
from sneaking up on you in order to
gain advantage in battle, much as in
the Evolution series.

Second, combat itself is a finely
tuned machine, which uses a
combination of ‘realtime’ (I use the
term loosely) and turnbased action,
in that movement is dictated by a
battle meter on the screen. Depend-
ing on your action (whether you’re

casting a difficult spell or hacking
away), your character’s speed on the
meter will zip or crawl before the
command is executed. Meanwhile,
your enemies are constrained by the
same clock. The meter also tells you
which character an enemy plans to hit
when he attacks once its action has
been entered by the game— as well as
its hit points and chances of dropping
an item. The level of interaction and
information is so amazingly thorough
and complete that it gives you a
great base for plotting effective
counterattacks and commands.

And this brings us to the different
options available in combat. You can
choose to cast spells, perform combo
attacks (for higher damage) or Critical
hits, which will effectively cancel or
counter enemy moves. The result is
an addictive battle system that makes
the repetitive task of fighting strange
monsters an enjoyable treat. I can state
with confidence that Grandia II ' s battle
system is not only the game’s strongest
suit, but one of the strongest and most
inventive ever designed for an RPG.

Have You Ever Been
Experienced?

At the end of a battle well fought,

your reward lies not only in gold or
items, but in Special Coins or Magic
Coins. Distributed amongst any of
your party members, they’ll give
characters different abilities, plus the
skill to power them up and make
them quicker to execute. This is a
massive improvement in customization
over the original Grandia. Because the
majority of them can be equipped,
it’s up to you as to who would be the
better healer or spell caster in your
party. And if you think this sounds
sweet, it’s even sweeter in action.

If you’re like me, you’re a compulsive
collector. You’ll more than likely find
yourself scrambling around forests
and dungeons trying to
beef up your Special and Magic
Coins in order to unlock each
and every spell and skill in order
to see what they look like and
how much damage they deal »

(Original

Grandia)

FYI: when the original Grandia debuted
on Saturn in Japan in '97, it met with over-
whelming success and spawned fan discs
and other related media. Encompassing
the adventures of a young wannabe
adventurer named Justin and his child-
hood friend Sue, the game spanned two
discs and was subsequently ported to
PlayStation in the US and Japan.

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

Grandia II does
so many things
right that it’s easy to over-
look any minor errors. Interesting
dungeon designs, good voice acting and
an involving storyline will more than
make up for an oft-slow-paced plot and
some overly basic gameplay elements.
Visually, it’s impressive to say the least;
tongues of fire, shadows and fabrics in
costumes are realistic enough to inspire
awe. This truly is one of the grandest
RPGs of the season on any system.

Ryudo ))j

None of my talents are appropriate
>r dinner-theatre.

Maybe you should clue the rest of us in
here. Captain. What the hell are you talking
about?

Keeping a gamer's interest after battle #2240 is quite a feat

» in battle. Keeping the gamer's interest
after battle #2240 is quite a feat for any
RPG to accomplish, and Grandia II
does it splendidly.

Good Looks

So what about the way it looks? Take

a gander at these screens, and you’ll see
one of the best-looking new games out
there— with polygonal characters strolling
through completely 3D environments
and tiny details in every nook and cranny
rendered with complicated textures and
vibrant colors. This is one of those titles
that makes you wonder how long it’s
going to take the world at large to realize
that videogames have clearly turned
into an art form. The superdeformed
characters are wonderfully drawn, right
down to Ryudo’s boot buckles and the

eyelet in Millennia’s lacy skirt. Visually,
Grandia II was clearly born into a loving
family of innovative designers, whose
multi-layered creation could never be
realized without the power of Dreamcast.

The most amazing thing about
Grandia II ' s graphics and character
designs is how much they look like 3D
representations of their 2D brethren. The
cute, superdeformed figures trotting across
lush, colorful fields are the closest things
to angels in pixie heaven that oldskool
RPG fans will ever see. And it’s impressive
that the highly detailed character models
still retain as many animations in their
3D forms as they would have as 2D hand
drawn sprites. So dreamy! While some
players may not take to Grandia II’ s
cutesy visuals, there’s no denying that
this is one very beautiful game.

The Last Word?

So, should you spend the $50

or not? In a word: yes. While the story-
line may seem overly straightforward
and the layout of the game is, at times,
too linear, Grandia II ’ s stellar battle
system, custom izations and memorable
cast cannot be beat with any sort of
stick. You’d think that with a lineup
of the usual suspects in your party
(swordsman hero, healing priestess,
powerful beastman, etc.), the game
would quickly turn into another RPG-by-
numbers affair— but UbiSoft’s efforts in
the localization and voice recording
department, along with Game Arts'
ingenious designs, will succeed in pleasing
a multitude of anxious fans. Is it worth
the long wait? Definitely.

■—^Official Magazine t

Dreamcast

PUBLISHER UBISOFT DEVELOPER GAMEARTS
GENRE RPG. ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS 1 VMU
COUNT 9+ ONLINE NO ESRB T PRICE $49.99

Graphics 9

Gorgeously detailed; weird pre-rendered spell effects

T~~T I

Sound 10

Great soundtrack, excellent voice acting

Control 9

Camera very responsive with a brilliant battle
system in place

Gameplay 9

i i i i r

Score: 9

48 Official Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

in stores now

featuring collaborations with dmx, method man, redman, xzibit

& scott weiland

featuring rollin' (urban assault vehicle) produced by swizz beatz

album produced by terry date and limp bizkit > additional production by josh abraham
> additional production by scott weiland > mixed by andy Wallace
> executive producer and a&r jordan schur

I live apart from the rest of the world
quiet place, making my home with the fli
and the insects.

Heralded as the RPG to best Panzer Dragoon Saga.

be great to invite over for dinner: these
folks love games. From the character
designs to the dungeon layouts to the
level of detail in gameplay, Skies is one
of the most well thought out and strik-
ingly original RPGs for the traditional
set— and it’s a Dreamcast exclusive.

But having a precedent-setting title
doesn’t mean that it’s all fruit punch
and pixie-pink roses. Instead, there’s
always a compromise to be made
somewhere down the line.. .and Skies
does have its share of flaws.

Captain, My Captain

I was going to start off this

paragraph with the statement: “If I had
a dime for everytime a RPG took place
in some quasi-futuristic medieval-esque
world...”, but I won’t. Instead, I’ll simply

begin by introducing you to Arcadia:
a world completly different from any
other RPG world, dotted by islands of
varying size that float not in massive
oceans of water, but in seas of wind,
fog and clouds.

The only way you can travel
between islands is to sail in fantastic
ships that resemble the Santa Maria
more than the Starship Enterprise.
This detail gives Skies an original twist,
placing the characters and the entire
feel of the game squarely in the Age of
Discovery, rather than in the usual
generic far-past/far-future era.

Enter Vyse, a young, adventurous
Blue Pirate who travels the skies with
his father’s crew, the Blue Rogues,
and dreams of one day having his
own ship. But don’t be fooled by the

In the beginning...

As one of the long running

projects being developed by Over-
works, one of the Sega’s inhouse
development teams, Skies of Arcadia
has perpetually played the underdog to
GameArts’ Grandia II. Why? Well, it
seems that Japanese gamers love
their sequels— and when that sequel
happens to be the follow up to one of
the most beloved RPGs, well then,
somebody’s got to play second fiddle.
This is especially true for Dreamcast,
which has received very little in the
way of support as far as RPGs go.

Yet despite the looming presence of
Grandia, Skies of Arcadia manages to
come out swinging with such a fresh
and unique feel that I can’t help but
suspect that the team behind it would

www.DailyRadar.com

As demonstrated in the screenshots below, the variety in environments is astounding in Skies of Arcadia. Every single new land that
Vyse and his crew discover is staggeringly different from the last; it’s always surprising that a whole GD-ROM isn’t dedicated to all
the different towns and dungeons. From the Western flavor of some of the smaller continents to the European accents of the Valua
capital to the Arabian-esque mystique of the desert cities, it’s obvious that a historic amount of care went into every single detail.

Setting Sail

With its unique character designs,
refreshingly different premise and
imaginative gameplay elements, Skies
of Arcadia takes roleplaying into a whole
different era. Freedom to roam, along
with the constant sense of discovery is
reinforced by Old World nuances, giving
the game a wonderful feel of departure
from the norm.

Sega's Skies of Arcadia finally flies home to the US

eye-patches and skull and crossbones;
those who call themselves Blue Pirates
aren’t the sort of swashbuckling air
raiders that make women padlock
their pantaloons in panic and send
children and deckhands scurrying
belowdecks the moment they appear
on the horizon.

Instead, the Blue Pirates play the
role of airborn Robin Hoods, spending
their days seeking out unclaimed treas-
ure, exploring new lands, and beating
everyone who preys upon the innocent
or exploits the less fortunate to a snot-
slinging pulp. And Vyse, along with his
childhood friend, Aika, are shining
examples of this ideal; willing to stick
their necks out to help someone in
need, while robbing the enemy blind to
teach them a lesson.

During a routine trip for the Blue
Rogues, Vyse and his father Dyne
stumble across an Empire ship firing
upon a smaller, unarmed vessel carry-
ing an unconscious young woman. In a
particularly intrepid mood, the Rogues
close in to rescue the girl and fight off
her attackers. After the fight is through,
the crew lands back at their base of
operations with the mysterious young
woman safely in their care. And soon
after, Vyse and Aika’s lives begin to
change dramatically.

Character Study

One of the striking features that

never seems to wear thin in Arcadia is
the amazing strength of its characters;
equal credit must go to the superb
localization of the game’s dialog

(kudos to Sega for not cheaping out)
and to the amazingly expressive facial
expressions of each and every single
character. After playing through so
many badly translated games across
every gaming system (N64 and
PlayStation included), it was a singular
wonder to be reading such descriptive
and concise text outlining everything
from a simple signpost to how Aika
feels about the weather. And it manages
to convey tons of emotion without ever
getting excessively wordy, surprisingly.

The dialog between all of the
characters has a singular feel, with
an incredible amount of attention
being given to the natural flow of
conversation. It may not win any
prizes for literary merit the way,
say, Vagrant Story would have, »

Arcadia's
Most Wanted

Meet the mugs behind the flag, lest
you end up on the wrong end of
the...um, eyepatch. Okay, scratch that.

Vyse

Young, feisty and packing
enough courage to save
the world from doom, Vyse
dreams of one day having
a ship and crew to call his
own. Nicknamed “Hand-
some,” he’s brave, loyal
and still single.

Aika

Quick to the punch and
constantly thinking about
money, Aika does have a
caring soul that may be
hard to notice at first
beneath her wacky exte-
rior. Count on her to be
fast on the draw and loyal
to the end.

Fina

The mysterious stranger
with an even more mysteri-
ous mission, Fina is more
reserved than Aika, but
she yearns to learn more
about the world. With Cupil
as her companion, she’s
the party’s most powerful
magic user.

Drachma

A salty man of the skies,
Drachma hides a deep
wound that forces him to
forever chase down the
dangerous arcwhale
named Rhankam. He’s a
powerful ally along with his
ship, the Little Jack.

Gilder

The free spirited ladies'
man, Gilder cruises the
open skies looking for “the
good life”, which roughly
translates into: women,
women, and more women.

Belleza

One of the much feared
Valua Admirals, Belleza’s
strength lies in her cun-
ning more than physical
force. She uses tricks and
schemes to get the upper
hand in a fight, but she’s
not evil. Instead, she's
loyal to the wrong master,
but will she realize this
before it's too late?

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

Holiday 2000 Official Dreamcast Magazine 51

Treasure Map

When you begin your adventure,

you can access an old fashioned pirate's
world map via the Start Button when
traveling through the skies. As you reach
new areas of the map, not only does it
get bigger, but more of it is revealed to
you. Therefore, at the start, you’ll have
nothing but one marked island and some
sky, and at the end of the game, you’ll
have a fully illustrated map with every
location marked. This is crucial to keep
track of where you’ve been and what
areas of the world you have yet to
explore. So, make like Columbus or
some more politically correct explorer
(oh, wait— there are none) and get
discoverin’, pirate!

Cairo

(Grandia II)

Cupil

(Skies of Arcadia)

There are two different types of
RPG pets: the ones that simply look cute
or the ones that look cute and kick ass.
Perfect example of the former is Carro,
the squeaky squirrel-type creature who
lurks in dark caves and loves to feed on
Poff Nuts. If Ryudo finds enough Poff
Nuts and feeds them to Carro, it will do a

It’s the little things in Skies that make it
all seem so amazing. From the spectac-
ular special skills that can be performed
in battle (above left) to the fact that you
can see Vyse’s breath In the Ice Ruins
(above), there are so many little touches
that it’s easy to become immersed in
the world of Arcadia. The Overworks
team has also taken great pains to vary
up what the townspeople say and how
often they change their lines. The result
is an incredibly interesting world.

I ,/ • a

LfjwJbJ

jpOTr J - i

The sense of freedom while sailing the

little dance, then attach itself to him,
acting like a light to illuminate dark cor-
ridors. But not much else.

Cupil, on the other hand, is Fina’s
weird PacMan-like morphing sidekick in
Skies. Though Cupil starts off as nothing
but a weakling, depending on how many
Chams you feed it, it can transform into
more destructive forms
ranging from a Star
to a Claymore

52 Official Dreamcast

» deepens the involvement I had with
each of the characters and their inde-
pendent struggles throughout the
game. Only occasionally did I notice a
hiccup during an interaction.

And it certainly doesn’t hurt that
each and every one of the main char-
acters (Aika, Vyse, Fina) in the game is
so darned likeable, even to a fault.
Vyse, the heroic young warrior, really is
the kind of guy you’d turn to in a pinch.
Strong, noble and caring, his bond with
both the spunky Aika and the quiet,
demure Fina feels genuine and never
falters. And through all the troubles
and tangles that they inevitably get into
to, they stick together no matter what.
As hokey as it sounds, I loved every bit
of their cameraderie.

But not everything’s cheery in
Arcadia. Things are swiftly
changing in the political
atmosphere— something dark is
going on within the skies of Valua, a
nearby country along the northern bor-
der of the Blue Rogues’ base in the
MidOcean. Valua is after Fina for an
undisclosed reason, therefore Vyse and

Aika pledge to keep her from harm: but
from the moment she’s safely in the
Blue Rogues’ hands, things begin to
go horribly wrong. The lives of many
innocent people are suddenly and mys-
teriously on the line. And what's a
self-respecting pirate with integrity to
do in these circumstances? There’s no
choice but to set sail into the sky and
find a way to stop the badness!

Along the way, Vyse, Fina and Aika
meet up with all sorts of curious folk,
some friendly and some not so friendly.
But be they friend or foe, every single
recurring character in the game is
given a well-rounded and somewhat
complex personality. Overworks, the
development team, wasn’t content with
making any of the characters one-
dimensional, and this concern shows
in the storyline with its various plot
twists and intertwined interactions.

And while many of the cast do fall into
certain RPG stereotypes (i.e., the noble
hero, the wispy spell caster, the slow,
but powerful brute) each is given such
rich personalities and back stories that
you almost don’t even notice.

I was particularly impressed with
the character of Belleza, one of the
Valua Armada Generals. Though she’s
fighting for the opposing side, she does
so with honor and with complete faith
in her queen. Her motivation is not
blind zealousness; she simply loves her
country— along with the handsome gen-
eral who’s commanding the troops.

But while the storyline and charac-
ters remain Skies’ strongest features,
they might not satisfy all your cravings
or scratch all your itches. Seasoned
roleplayers know how postively great it
can be to wield a sword or a blade as a
bad-assed mercenary stranger who
blows into town and kicks heiney with-
out adhering to any sort of honor code
(a la Ryudo in Grandia II). It’s equally
fun to watch this kind of guy grow into
a respectable warrior, fighting for what
he believes in and for what is Good. In
Skies, Vyse is so incredibly likeable and
endearing right off the bat, that it’s dif-
ficult to truly identify with him in any
other context. Still, this is merely a very
teensy, weensy quibble in Skies' other-
wise amazingly assembled cast.

www.DailyRadar.com

iShip Parts Merchant)

V, Vyse/ You are a legend/ I would be j
if you wished to buy something from me.
would make me feel so... important.

skies is overwhelming and exhilarating

Freedom

If you've ever played an RPG

before, you know the drill: walk around
the world map and cruise around for
half of the game and you’ll eventually
receive a ship. Then, when you near
the final dungeon, you’ll be granted an
upgrade: an airship. Now, imagine
starting off with an airship! Cool, huh?
No slogging through dungeons and
fighting with bosses just so you can
bop around the map with ease.

Instead, there are other conven-
tions in place to ensure that you can’t
access the entire world map (like air
rifts and stone reefs) at once, as well
as random battles to be fought ship-to-
ship and hand-to-hand on your ship’s
deck. Nevertheless, the sense of
immediate freedom is simultaneously
overwhelming and exhilarating.

With a massive world map to
explore and so many things to see and
do, you’ll find yourself spending just as
much time progressing through the
storyline as in seeking out new Discov-
eries (see boxout) and filling in the

game map (see boxout). But wandering
the open air also leads to random and
not so random battles against weird
creatures, as well as the dreaded Black
Pirates. Yes, Black Pirates. Y’see, not
every pirate in Arcadia feels obliged to
devote his energies to good. And if
Vyse runs into them, it’s a fight for
sure. While random stock battles are
fought in character on the deck of your
ship, fighting against rival pirates
means pulling out the big cannons
for some serious air combat.

Fight, Fight, Fight

It’s always been a bit up in the

air as to how the ship battles in Skies
would be handled. Would they be turn-
based? Would they happen regularly
when you’re steering your ship? Or are
they relegated to special events? It
turns out that the answer is all of the
above, to some degree. It all depends
on where you and your enemies are,
and what you’re doing.

If you’re strolling around a dungeon
on foot, it’s a given that you’ll be fight-

ing the good fight with your fists. But if
you’re up in the air, there’s a chance
that you may run into another ship or a
creature so big that neither Vyse’s
swords nor Aika’s boomerangs can
help you.

When this happens, you’ll open a
new screen which allows you to enter
specific commands, for using magic
(altered spells to suit the situations),
healing (with repair kits) or different
types of cannon attacks. In order to
pull off some of the more spectacular
attacks with equip-able cannons or
your stationary main cannon, you’ll
need the right amount of Spirit Points
(SP) and to find the option to do so
on the command grid. The command
grid is your best way to gauge the
most opportune times to do the most
damage to your enemy in a given
round, or when it’s best to guard
against an impending special counter-
attack. Though it’s turnbased to the
nth degree, the command grid forces
you to plan your attacks accordingly
and employ some good old fashioned
strategic thinking. »

Discovery
Channel

Remember that you're flying around
in the Age of Discovery. With this in
mind, you’ll no doubt thrill at the chance
to make all sorts of wacky discoveries
throughout your adventure. These “dis-
coveries” can be made anywhere on the
game map and pop up if you’re in the

Iron Star
i A strange object said to
be launched by the ancienf
, civi I ization of the Red
: Moon. Its purpose has beer|
long forgotten, but
legends say that its Eye
, could see the entire
• world. Even now, sailors
navigate by its rhythmic
flashing light,

right place by pressing the A button.
Your discoveries will be logged in your
Journal under Discoveries and with over
40 entries to fill, you’ll be busy seeing if
you can get 'em all.

You should also be warned that a fel-
low treasure hunter by the name of
Domingo is also on the lookout for new
things to discover and if you beat him
out, you’ll be able to sell your Discovery
information for a pretty profit. If you get
beat to the punch, expect only pocket
change. How clever and cool is that?

Rank and File

One of the coolest features in Skies
of Arcadia undoubtedly has to be Vyse’s
upgradeable ranking. On the menu
screen, Vyse has a “title” that changes
from time to time, depending on how
you handle yourself in battle and when
making tough decisions during your jour-
ney. See, a man of honor and integrity is
measured by the choices he makes,
right? Listen for a chime when choosing
from multiple choices in a conversation.
A chime means you’ve made the right
decision. Any other sound means you’re
demoted, peasant.

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

Holiday 2000 Official Dreamcast Magazine 53

P i-san (above) anda load full
ans get happy with Skies

CValuan Spectre Spellship)

Impudent Air Pirate, you dare challenge the
Armada/? You will learn to fear the Magic
Cannons aboard these these new Spell ships/

Once I fell head over heels

»The sense of scale in certain ship
battles is also incredibly amazing to
see in action. The moment you enter a
fight with a creature that also serves
as a weapon of mass destruction (we
can’t give it all away, now, can we?),
then you know you’re in for a long,
hard battle. While I wish that there was
some way to control the actual move-
ment of ships on the screen during a
fight, the ship battles often almost
seemed like chess matches with fire-
power. They aren’t as grandiose as the
glorious airfights in Panzer Dragoon
Saga, but there is something very simi-
lar in feel between the two.

Apart from the ship battles, you’ll
also have to fight hand-to-hand. Turn-
based, but using a somewhat clever
magic system and SP meter to nearly
replace the need for magic points, the
combat in Arcadia is very basic.

All characters are able to learn the
same basic spells, such as healing and
various elemental attacks through a
system of Moon Stones. Once you

stumble across one of the colored
Moon Stones, you’ll be able to change
your weapon to that specific color on
the fly in battle by pressing the Y but-
ton. Doing so will not only affect your
enemy differently, depending on its
weakness, but you’ll also beef up that
specific Moon Stone’s magic category.

For example, you have a Green
Moon Stone and a Purple Moon Stone.
You stumble across some creatures in
combat possessing Red Moon Stone
elements. If your weapon is green,
then you can press the Y button to
switch it to purple which will do more
damage to red creatures. At the end of
the battle, you’ll gain points towards
your Purple Moon Stone, thus giving
you a chance to gain more Ice Elemen-
tal spells. The system keeps you sharp
and eager to learn.

You can also learn unique skills for
each character by collecting smaller
Moonstones. You can distribute these
items to whichever character you
choose, in order to access some very

10/05/00: It is Thursday morning,
and OCDM are standing outside the LAOX
game store here in Akihabara to witness
Eternal Arcadia's first few moments on the
world stage. It’s 10:45am (15 minutes
before three members of the game's cre-
ative team turn up to greet the anxious
RPG otaku) and there’s already a line of
fans forming outside the store. Everyone's
clutching a LAOX bag containing the lim-
ited edition box set of the game but we've
had to make do with the @barai (Internet
trial) version which looks sadly pathetic in
its DVD-like casing alongside its consider-
ably more illustrious big brother. Under the
card slipcover, the limited edition is
housed in an ornate-looking brown box
that opens up like an old book and is
printed to look like some dusty ancient
tome. Inside, is the game itself (on two
discs), an art book, a skull bracelet, a blue
sky pirate bandana, a ‘mascot strap' (for a
cellphone) and three little game mascots.

Best of all, though, and the reason for
our little outing this morning, is the
opportunity to have your limited editon
signed by the people who made the
game. By 10:50, the store has sold its
supply of 50 boxes and a quick count
confirms that everyone who bought it is
standing in line waiting to meet their
idols. AT 11am, producer Kodama-san,
Hoshi-san and Ohba-san duly troop up to
a table set outside the store entrance
and prepare their writing quills. As well
as having the team write ‘thank you!' on
their game boxes, the lucky few also get
a bonus Eternal Arcadia poster and com-
memorative bag.

Skipping off work to collect his copy
and get it signed is Sugawara-san,
standing next to us in the line and now
the victim of a quick Gestapo-like ques-
tioning. Serves him right for being ahead
of us:

Q. How come you’re here on a Thursday
morning to get your game signed? Are

you a student?

A. No. I got the morning off work! I don't
have to go back in until after lunch.

Q. Did you reserve your copy?

A. Yes, about a week ago. although I see
they’re still selling them this morning.

Q. Yeah, but they’ve just sold out.

A. Really? Yokatta! (this means he's
delighted he made the reservation and
managed to get a copy).

Q. (Sugawara-san looks a bit worried)
What’s up?

A. I'm really nervous!

Q. What, to go and get your game signed?
A. Yes! I love their games. Sega games are
great.

Q. Any recent favorites?

A. Grandia II. I’ve finished it. though. I love
RPGs.

Q. Are you going to talk to them (the Eter-
nal Arcadia team)?

A. I don’t think so! I'm too nervous!

(He did though, and they were very friendly
to him!)

Eternal Otaku

The extremes between the different locales in Skies shows that plenty of thought went
into each of the games' different lands. From the leafy tree tops of Horteku (top left) to
the dusty sands in Maramba (top right), the level of design in each village is stunning
enough to forgive how small each town actually Is. The cool thing is that there so much
to see and do on your first run through each new land that you’ll be well occupied.

54 Official Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.DailyRadar.com

As you near the final confrontation in Skies,
you’d be missing out if you didn’t spend
enough time cruising through the world to
pick up on the many secrets and whatnot
hidden through the game.

Ship battles are impressive both visually,
and from a gameplay standpoint. While
they aren’t as flexible or interactive as
the ones in Panzer Dragoon Saga are, the
sense of scale is equally amazing.

CTavernkeep)

Remember, it's "Gentum,
Please bring them to me
all/

into Skies ' plot, I never looked back , even for a minute

aUMHMife

cool specials which are crucial for tough
fights later on in the game.

While the elemental system is clever
and the skills interesting, the encounter
rate when flying through the open skies
or tooling around the dungeons is so high
that you’ll find yourself tiring of it rather
quickly. It also doesn’t help that the pace
of battle can sometimes feel very slow.
This is probably Skies' weakest aspect,
especially when compared to the amaz-
ing battle system in Grandia II. But
nonetheless, I found the adventure so
compelling that it wasn’t difficult to over-
look the problems. Still, I couldn’t help
but wish for something a bit more
inspired. Battle is, after all, where most
fans will spend the bulk of their time.

Building Castles
in the Air

I would be doing a disservice to

readers if I failed to mention the overall
pace of Skies. Up until a certain point in
the game, I found it to be a bit slow. It

never quite plodded, per se— but it wasn’t
exactly wham-bam-thank you-ma'am,
either. But (and it’s a big “but”) some-
thing happened several hours into
playing that changed the whole game
and drew me in for the long run. Though
that point will differ from player to player,
it’s guaranteed that there’ll be an event
that grabs you, keeping you enthralled for
the duration of Skies.

And this is what impressed me about
Skies. Once I fell head over heels into the
plot, I never quite looked back. I wanted
to play nonstop and discover everything
that the game had to offer. And what it
has to offer is nothing short of amazing
in terms of depth.

As the game goes on, Vyse will be
charged with assembling a whole new
crew of characters to help build a fort and
base. And much like Konami’s Suikoden I
& II on PlayStation, these characters are
found in various places and occupations.
But what separates Skies from Suikoden
is the effect these character will have on
your ship, as well as on your fort. I cer-

tainly don’t want to ruin the surprises that
you’re in for thanks to this option, so I’ll
leave it at this: never underestimate the
power of sub-quests to involve you in a
game-and fast.

The Final Chapter

I haven’t even touched on the

marvelous graphics in Skies! But rest
assured that everything from the special
effects to the character models to the
facial expressions all serve to impress.
Everything simply screams high produc-
tion value, and it does nothing but
enhance an already strong story played
out by great characters. If no other RPG
(besides Grandia II, of course) was
released for Dreamcast, its legacy would
still be complete with Skies of Arcadia.
Go out and experience it now. It’d be
criminal to miss out on the ride.

PUBLISHER SEGA DEVELOPER OVERWORKS
GENRE RPG ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS 1 VMU
PAGES 29+ [78 MINIGAME! PERIPHERALS VMU,
MODEM ONLINE YES ESRB T PRICE $49.99

Graphics 10

Filled with yummy textures and expressive characters

Sound 10

Minimal vocal tracks and unique BGM

I I M — M

CONTROL 9

: Ships feel a little slow; some delayed resp

GAMEPLAY 10

Classic gameplay with new, innovative twists

Score: 10

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

PlayStation^

Animated Violence

Animated Blood

and Gore

Get up close and personal in the first-person
perspective with over 10 weapons of destruction!
Screenshots are from the PlayStation®2 system.

Go online with up to 8 players on your Sega
□reamcast™, play 2- or 4-player split screen, or
network 2 PlayStation®2’s systems with i.LINK™.

Experience dazzling graphics and a multitude of
maps and weapons - all in a frame rate so fast
it’s Unreal.

Unreal™ Tournament's fast and furious,
single and multiplayer experience comes to life on
PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and Sega Dreamcast™
Lead your team of virtual teammates against the deadliest gladiators in
the galaxy. Mind-blowing realistic 3D graphics. High-octane gameplay.

Totally Unreal combat action.
Just be sure not to lose your head.

mfw.

TAKING HELL TO THE NEXT LEVEL

In The Demon!s Hand

TODD McFARLANE

/■ CAPCOM

© CAPCOM CO.. LTD. 2000 © CAPCOM U.S.A.. INC. 2000. All Rights
Reserved. A Todd McFarlane Entertainment. Inc. Production. SPAWN, its
logo, symbol, characters, and all related characters are registered trade-
marks ol Todd McFarlane Productions. Inc. © 2000. All Rights Reserved.
CAPCOM and the CAPCOM logo are registered trademarks of CAPCOM CO..
LTD. CAPCOM EDGE is a trademark ol CAPCOM CO.. LTD Sega. Dreamcast
and the Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks ol
Sega Enterprises. LTD All Rights Reserved. The ratings icon is a registered
trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other marks
are the property ot their respective holders.

todd mcfarlane

Dreamcast. CAPCOM

SPAWN.COM

AC A P COM 9

•Gameweek

-All your favorite characters from the
Spawn series are faithfully recreated
in the ultimate death match challenge

-Includes the original Arcade
Mode and tournament style
Dreamcast Mode

-Compete in the four-player
simultaneous Battle Royal mode

-Todd McFarlane's blockbuster
comic book characters come to
life on Sega Dreamcast

Arc Systems' only real
(albeit amazing) 2D
fighter — Guilty Gear on
PlayStation— might not be
a title that readily pops into
fighting fans' heads as
fantastic.. .but hardcore
virtual scrappers revere it
for its innovative gameplay
and charismatic characters.
If you have a PlayStation (or

check it out. It does rock.

Guilty Gear X

If fighting games were humans, we do dare say that
Guilty GearX would be a god among men

a ince its inception,

Sega’s system has
been a sanctuary for
2D fighting games. With its
Herculean pixel-pushing
prowess, the Dreamcast has
finally allowed developers to
deliver on their previously unful-
filled promise of pixel-perfect
arcade conversions— with all of
the extraordinary speed, color
and animation of their coin-op
counterparts. Unsurprisingly, it
has been Capcom who has
spearheaded this effort, with
more than a half-dozen such
titles gracing the console. Now,
a new contender is set to enter

the fray— and believe it or not,
it might just raise the already
oh-so-high bar in 2D fighting.

One of the most beloved-yet-

under-appreciated videogames
in recent memory, the original
Guilty Gear (which came home
on PlayStation) defined itself
with its well-balanced game-
play, wonderful art design and
extremely tight control. This
sequel takes this solid founda-
tion and brings it to the next
level, retaining the original’s
spectacular gameplay and
combining it with a look and
feel entirely its own— one which

simply screams next millennium.

And not only does GGX
make beautiful use of the 2D
characters-atop-3D back-
grounds technique first
employed in Marvel vs.
Capcom 2, but it actually
does something that no
2D fighting game has ever
managed to do before— it uses
high-resolution 640x480
characters. While this might
not sound like a big deal,
trust us— it makes all the
difference in the world. If
you’re a fan of hand-illustrated,
manga-style characters, you
simply must see these massive,

www.DailyRadar.CQm

Lickety slick

REGARD THE TONGUE sticking out
in this picture: this is exactly what
our tongues look like right now, as
we wait for the debut of these
640x480 pixel beauties. Trust us,
the 2D folks in this game are pret-
tier than your 3D girlfriend (don't
tell her that, if you want to keep
her). We predict that you'll be
hard-pressed to find a fighter to
equal GGX when it releases.

This is a towering inferno of spine-tingling, lip-smacking, eye-gouging 2D goodness. Especially if you've
got a VGA monitor, it’s like having an honest-to-goodness arcade machine in your home. Dropdeadline
Newsflash: Dina just announced that she has sprained her lifestyle.

well-animated sprites (14 of
which are available at the
game’s start) dash around
the screen at lightspeed.

And no more rough edges or
blocky pixelation— these high-
res fighters will impress even
the most jaded gamers.

of powerful attacks. This serves
as a clear incentive for players
to be aggressive in their fighting
styles, and prevents matches
from settling into defensive
blockfests. It’s a novel idea, and
one which will have a huge
effect on the style and pacing
of each battle.

two feet (more than that, if you
count all the characters) as a
spectacular game. So until we
get our hands on the import,
we’re all about drooling.

EVAN SHAMOON

What can’t be seen in these captures are the gobs of animation being
thrown around the screen. Dropdeadline Newsflash: “I think we’re
doin’ a magazine, now!" says Dave, three days before our Someone
Gets Fired deadline.

Guilty Gear X also manages

to distinguish itself from the
pack with its original, purpose-
ful fighting systems— of which
the most notable is the Tension
Gauge. Essentially, this is a
meter at the bottom of the
screen which is filled by the
character moving forward or
performing attacks. When the
meter is full, the character will
have access to an assortment

Recently demonstrated in

front of a ravenous crowd at
this Fall’s Tokyo Game Show,
Guilty GearX has already
solidified its place as a system-
selling game in Japan. While it
is entering into an extremely
crowded niche genre— which is
even more extremely crowded
on Dreamcast — Guilty GearX
promises to stand on its own

PUBLISHER SAMMY (JAPAN] TBA(US] DEV ARC
SYSTEM WORKS GENRE FIGHTER ORIGIN JAPAN
PLAYERS 1 -2 RELEASE DATE DEC (JAPAN] TBA (US]

Pluses [+]

Best high-res 2D graphics we’ve ever
seen: with intriguing new fighting systems

Minuses [-]

If you don’t dig on 2D fighters, you
probably won’t dig on this

Bottom Line [_]

Bigger, better, faster, prettier and more
original than any 2D fighter we’ve seen.
We’d put it in a pipe and smoke it

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

Previewed This Month

Anticipation is sweet, and these DC games could be even sweeter.
Read on, and find out what you’ll be playing in months to come!

GUILTY GEAR X/ 60 Fighting fans everywh e re rejo i ce
COASTER WORKS/62 Ifyoub uild it, they will come
RE3: NEMESIS/63 The Master of Unlocking™ returns!

SOUL REAVER 2/64 Raziel and Co. pre pare to reav e again
CHICKEN RUN/6 6 License done right? Yo u be the judge
EVIL DEAD: HAIL TO THE KING/73 Hail to Sam Raini

SONIC SHUFFLE/74 M ore mascot m a dn essf r om Sega

BANG!: GUNSHIP ELITE/ 74 In space, noone can hear
CHARGE'N BLAST/76 Arc ade shooters reUirn to Drea mcast
BANGAI-O/77 Treasure gears up for another shootin' classic

IRON ACES/77 How blue is the wild blue yonder?

At least apples
and oranges are
both fruit: The
world doesn't get
any more diverse
than Sonic Shuffle
(page 74) and
Chicken Run
(page 66).

INCOMING!

All Dreamcast, all the time: planned releases for 2000 and beyond

102 Dalmations Rescue Adventure Nov

Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes Strategy Nov

Bang! Gunship Elite Shooter Nov

Capcom Vs. SNK Fighting Nov

Championship Surfer Sports Nov

Chicken Run Action Nov

Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX Sports Nov

Deer Avenger Shooter Nov

Dino Crisis Action Nov

E.O.S. Action Nov

ECW Anarchy Ruiz Wrestling Nov

Heroes of Might & Magic 3 RPG Nc"

Hoyle Casino Games Casino Nov

Kao the Kangaroo Platformer Nov

Looney Toons Space Race Racing Nov

Ms Pacman’s Maze Madness Arcade Nov
Peacemakers Strategy Nov

Project Justice Fighting Nov

Ready 2 Rumble 2nd Rnd Sports Nov

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis Action Nov

Resident Evil 2 Action Nov

Shenmue Adventure Nov

Skies of Arcadia RPG Nov

Sonic Shuffle Multiplayer Puzzle Nov

StarLancer Online S hooter Nov

Star Wars: Demolition Racer Racing Nov

Speed Devils Online Racing Nov

The Next Tetris Online Puzzle Nov

Tomb Raider Chronicles Adventure Nov

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Sports Nov

Vanishing Point Racing Nov

Worms World Party Multiplayer Nov

Bangai-0 Shooter Dec

Charge'N Blast Action Dec

Coaster Works Si m Dec

Ducati World Racing Dec

Evil Dead: Hail to the King Action Dec

Dec

Half-Life FPS Dec

Iron Aces Flight Sim Dec

Max Steel Action Dec

Prince of Persia 3D Action Dec

Record of Lodoss War RPG Dec

Stunt GP Racing Dec

Surf Rocket Racers Racing Dec

System Shock 2 Shooter/RPG Dec

Sno Cross Int. Champ. Racing Dec

Test Drive LeMans Racing Dec

Xtreme Sports Sports Dec

Austin Powers: Mojo Rally Racing Q4

Dark Angel Action Q4

IHRA Drag Racing Racing Q4

World's Deadl. Pol. Chases Driving Q4

Star Wars Super Bombad Racing Q4

Urban Chaos Action Q4

Unreal Tournament FPS Jan

Armada II Shooter/RPG Jan

Cannon Spike Action/Shooter Jan

Daytona: Network Racing Racing Jan

Gunbird 2 Shooter Jan

Phantasy Star Online Online RPG Jan

Alien Front OnlineShooter/Action Q1

18 Wheeler Ampro Trucker Dri ving Q1

Out Trigger Shooter/Action Q1

Alone in the Dark IV Adventure Q2

Dragon Riders Adventure Q2

Matt Hoffman’s ProBMX Sports Q2

III Ble ed Action Q2

Agartha Adventure '01

Black And White Str ategy ’01

Buffy the Vamp. Slayer Action '01

Floigan Brothers Action *01

Gorka Morka Racing ‘01

Galleon Adventure ’01

Headhunter Adventure '01

Heavy Metal FAKK Shooter ’01

Legend of the Blademasters RPG '01

MOUT 2025: Shrapnel Action ‘01

NBA Hoopz Sports '01

Planet of the Apes Action ’01

Roswell Conspiracy Action '01

Soldier of Fortune Action/Shoo ter ‘01

Sonic Adv. 2 Platformer __ '01

Soul Reaver 2 Adventure '01

Spec Ops: Omega Squad Strategy '01

Picassio A ction TBA

Quark RPG TBA

H COMINGSOOIM »...

instant demon death

Whoever says that Dreamcast lags
behind PS2 in terms of graphics
quality certainly hasn’t seen what
Crystal Dynamics has done with
Soul Reaver 2. Every environ-
ment, character and object
is modeled with high
. \> polygon counts

In mind.

Raziel shows gamers everywhere,
once again, that size does indeed
matter.. .especially when it comes
to the girth of your selected
weapon. The bigger the blade,
the bigger the kill.

cessors, Soul Reaver 2 is gothic
to its dark, lonely core. But this
‘style’ goes beyond a fixation on
the color black and a bleak
sound track. As in the last
game, design really comes
through in the architecture of
the levels. Thanks to some killer
level design, you really feel as
though you’re exploring dark,
lost, bleak, yet still eerily
beautful environments— and not
just wandering down generic
halls with pentagram textures
(the game design equivalent of
wood panelling) on the walls .
Even if there were no gameplay
here— and there is— simply
exploring the levels would be a
wonderful visual experience.

And even better: because

the title was designed

Have Reaver, Will Travel: Raziel returns to dish

a dose of

what’s going on even if you
haven’t played the first one.

And in a brave leap forward

from cost-effectiveness to •
creative integrity, the company
hasn’t used anything from the
first game that ended up on the

cutting room floor: it’s all new
material. Although Crystal
Dynamics and Eidos are being
coy about revealing details of
the game (as well they should
be; we don’t want the story
wrecked anymore than they
do!), it’s clear that you’ll be

solving the mysteries of the
genocide of your vampire
brothers, the corruption of
the pillars, and more.

Style-wise, well, let’s just say
that someone over at Crystal
has been listening to a lot of
Sisters of Mercy. Like its prede-

Alucard: Reaver by Design

WHILE ITS ARGUABLE THAT RAZIEL may be the tougher of the two vampires, what
if the question came down to who’s the cooler blood and soul sucker? Well,
unfortunately for Raziel, we'd have to go with Alucard (Castlevania: Symphony of
the Night). But the two vamps do have plenty in common.

POINT #1:

Pathos. Both are reluctant demons with a score to settle. Raziel has been cast
into the Underworld by his former master, while Alucard wants to free the
non-vamp world from his Dad's— the Count's— evil clutches.

POINT #2:

Morphing. Women love guys who can morph, and both Raziel and Alucard do it.
Alucard transforms, while Raziel shape-shifts through time. Ooooh, baby.

here may be no other
game— other than NFL
2K — that demonstrated
the superiority of Dreamcast
more clearly, right from the
start, than the “port” of Legacy
of Kain: Soul Reaver. The
graphics were unbelievable,
control was better than that of
the PlayStation version, and the
gameplay soared. Until you got
to the cliffhanger ending, that is.

Soul Reaver 2 finally

completes the story of top
demon Raziel’s quest to destroy
top top demon Kain (who was
always just jealous of Raziel’s
wings, anyway)— although the
folks at Eidos are keen to make
it clear that Soul Reaver 2 is a
complete game in and of itself,
and that you can figure out

62 Official (^Prpamrast Magazine Holiday 2000

.www.DailyRadar.com

Like its predecessors, Soul Reaver 2 is gothic to its dark, lonely core.

I CHARLA

Raziel will be able
to tranport items
from place to
place in order to
solve puzzles.

Though the levels look a little lonely at this point in the game’s
development cycle, you can expect that there will be plenty for
Raziel to see and do on his new adventure.

The variety in environments
was already impressive in the
original, but Crystal Dynamics
ensures that there will be even
more depth and detail in every
inch of the sequel's terrain.

You’ll have to sharpen your
weapon in order to duel with all
sorts of new enemies. The list is
impressive, and it includes
human vampire hunters as well
as foes that Eidos terms “extra-
dimensional demons.” These
enemies may indeed add an
extra dimension to combat, in
that you cannot escape them
as easily as you could in prior
titles in the series. You’ll have to
outwit them, instead of simply
heading into battle swinging.

Sister Act

ONE OF THE SEMINAL bands of
the gothic movement (the one in this
century), the Sisters of Mercy helped
to turn the color black into the
moody pout of the visible spectrum.
Their somber lyrics and music — you
could call it dirge-metal — made us
happy to be sad and mad.

Fronted by Bowie-boy Andrew
Eldritch (note the Dr. Evil pose), the
group stayed cool throughout the
'90s and lives today — in spirit— in
the design ethos of Crystal
Dynamics' dark and lovely Soul
Reaver games.

simultaneously for Dreamcast
and PlayStation2, without the
laggard PlayStation 1 dragging

things down, the graphics are
simply breathtaking. The detail
is exactly what you’ve always
expected from Dreamcast, and
polygon counts are immense:
every character has at least
double the polygons that you
saw in the first game. Texture
maps are also immense, and
the game runs at a rock solid
60 fps. Oh, and of course,
the lighting and special
effects are fantastic.

The storyline has Raziel

exploring various epochs of the
world of Nosgoth’s past: he’ll
rediscover characters and areas
both from Soul Reaver 1 and
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain,
the game that started the
whole blood-sucking series in
the first place. But again,

Crystal is keen to point out that
“This won’t be a cheesy time
travel story,” and that the
game’s plot will attempt to
explore deeper questions of
destiny-versus-free will and
good-versus-evil. Sounds a little
literary, for our tastes, but hey—
if that’s what these folks need
to think about to make a great
game, more power to ’em.

Raziel will have a lot more
tools at his disposal, this time
around, to facilitate his explo-
ration: he’ll learn nine new
abilities (inlcuding spells), and
gain seven new reavers to
summon— one for each of the
elemental reaver forges he’ll
discover at various places in
Nosgoth. Each of the seven
reavers can also be powered up
and enhanced. Although

earning these powers will be
essential to solving the game—
especially since there are
now far more enemies, and a
great variety of enemies and
boss monsters— the team is
attempting to keep gameplay
as nonlinear as possible by
ensuring that two or three
quests or options are always
available at any one time.

Puzzles have also been

stepped up sign ifigantly, with
fewer ‘push-the-block-flip-the-
switch’ puzzles and more
in-depth challenges that tie
directly into the plot and feel
organic within the game world.
Raziel’s new abilities will also
enable deeper and more
complex puzzle mechanics.

Soul Reaver 1 was a triumph:

a beautiful game that had great
game mechanics. Now Soul
Reaver 2 looks to take the
entire experience to the next
level. What can we say?

Let the blood-letting begin!

CHRIS CHARLA

PUBLISHER EIDOS DEV CRYSTAL DYNAMICS
GENRE VAMPIRE ACTION ADVENTURE ORIGIN US
PLAYERS 1 ONLINE NOPE RELEASE DATE SPRING

Pluses [+]

Great design, great style, makes us want
to wear black

Minuses [-]

The puzzles were tough last time. If
they're tougher this time it may be
wicked frustrating

Bottom Line [_]

We love a good vamp game, especially
when it actually has a compelling story

dreamcastmagazine.com

Holiday 2000 Official # Dreamcast Ma gazine . 6 3.

It’ll take a while for you to get the hang of constructing your own rollercoaster, but once you complete one, it’s a joy
ride from there on out. But if you mess up in guesstimating the coaster’s angles, you may have to start over from
scratch in order to create a successful ride. Our angles were a little on the sharp side (above).

CHANGE ANGLES (r CAMERA MOVEMENT
r * MOVE FORWARD r ® REVERSE® SHIFT * CAMERA SWITCH

You’ll have a set amount of space to work with and some of the special
components must be earned before they can be used, but otherwise,
getting your coaster just right is a completely freeform experience.

Use the Force

ACCORDING TO THE website
"World of Coasters," the top gun
of all amusement park coasters
worldwide is a wee machine
called the Millennium Force (this
determination was based on a
poll of the site's members). Built
for speed with a max drop point
at a dizzying 300 feet and nearly
6000 feet of rollercoaster action,
the Millennium Force has been
thrilling riders — and spilling
their cookies— at Cedar Point in
Ohio since earlier this year. Now,
just imagine building this behe-
moth yourself in Coas ter Wo rks
and you'll begin to get the idea of
why it could be one heck of an
addictive ride.

In CW, at least you don’t lose points for regurgitation.” brandon justice

COMINGSOON

Previews

Coaster Works

If this wasn’t a ga m e, all of thes e ups and downs would put you in therapy

musement parks are
a perplexing schtick.

In perhaps the only
industry outside pharmaceutical
testing where people willingly pay
for someone else to put them
through rituals that are almost
guaranteed to make them
queasy, they also manage to
charge you a good $20 bucks
for a hot dog and a Coke and
leave you walking away with a
smile— and sometimes, if you
eat and ride in the wrong order,
you might even lose the hot dog
and the Coke.

Now, Xicat Interactive thinks
that it has a handle on the
causes of true thrill ride addic-
tion. And it’s hoping that this
upcoming rollercoaster sim,

Coaster Works, will be able to
give the virtual park-goer a simi-
lar satisfaction, sans nausea.

Known as Jet Coaster Dream

in Japan, the entire game was
designed and programmed by a
single software engineer. So it’s
fitting that you, all by your lone-
some, are about to pick up
where he left off as a coaster
designer. The rules are simple:
follow the instructions of a
handy-dandy in-game tutor
and build a coaster that fits the
specifications of the park.

Each course/park has its own
set of limitations, and to help
keep you in line, CW starts you
off with a pretty lengthy learning
session. Once you’ve completed

,64 Officia l # Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

a kiddy coaster to learn the
ropes, you’ll try your hand at
increasingly impressive metal
monsters, until you are the
master of whiplash-inducing,
free-falling loopty-loops of doom.

Niche marketing

WITH COASTER WORKS on its
way to the US, we can only hope
that it'll lead the way for other
weird and wonderful games, like
the underrated Tokyo Bus Guide
from Team
Fortyfive.

It's a
heart-
stopping
title.

Truly.

The editor is fully 3-D, and

you can test everything out as
you go. It even keeps track of
stats such as thrill levels and
the ride’s safety level. Keep in
mind, however, that “the figures
indicating the number of people
who’ve either lost consciousness
or suffered memory loss are only
estimates.’’ Oh, my.

If Dramamine doesn’t work
for you, or if you can’t spare the
time or money for a trip to your
favorite amusement park,
Coaster Works could be the
answer to your prayers. But be
forewarned: things may look too
realistic. If 3D games make your
stomach turn, you’ll soon be re-
evaluating your love for orange
food as it passes your lips for the

second time around. It’s a good
thing you don’t lose points for
regurgitation, brandon justice

PUBLISHER XICAT DEVELOPER BIMB00S0FT
GENRE SIM ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS 1 ONLINE NO
RELEASE DATE DECEMBER

Pluses [+]

Sim games couldn't be further from a
dime a dozen on DC, and Coaster Works
should fill the gap very nicely

Minuses t-1

Could it be too niche-y for the mass
market? Ah. who cares when a game
has this much promise!

Bottom Line [_]

One of the more intriguing and modestly
successful games on DC in Japan is
finally winging its way to the US. Sim
fans and niche gamers take note!

www.DailvRadar.com

One of the new features that
Capcom has added in for the PC
and DC versions in RE3: Nemesis
is the option to choose any of Jill’s
eight different outfits at the start
of the game. We particularly like
the Saturday Night Fever-e sque
flavor of the top right outfit (right).
Ah, ah, ah, ah stayin’ alive.

“You’ll need more than firearms to battle against the undead that litter Raccoon City’s streets.” francesca reyes

Nemesis

Three times is not onl y the charm, Lt

’s oh, so charming

[“■ t was just a matter of
H time before Capcom

brought some of the
earlier chapters in its flagship
horror series to DC. After port-
ing Resident Evil 2 and 3 to PC
in Japan this year, it seemed
more like a waiting game than
anything else until Capcom
announced that either title
would make it to the US;
and now, just in time for the
holidays, the company who
invented the art of zombie
hunting has finally come
through. RE3: Nemesis, as
well as RE2, is on the way.

But it’s Nemesis that most

DC owners may not be so
familiar with, because its

release coincided with the early
days of Dreamcast. For those
who’ve played the first title in
the RE series, Nemesis picks
up where the original left off
with Jill Valentine back in zom-
bie-shooting form. Players will
assume her identity in order to
escape Raccoon City, while the

Horror Defined!

survival horror, n.: a genre
of videogame or movie in
which a protagonist must
negotiate situations of
sensationalist violence,
usually having supernatural
elements, [source: Oxford
English Dictionary, North
American edition, 2000]
We've arrived!

mutated and undead walk the
streets freely. Equipped with a
machine gun from the start,
you’ll need more than a mere
firearm to battle the hordes of
monsters that litter your path.

Like the omnipotent Tyrant

in Code Veronica, there’s also a
horrifying enemy who will dog
Jill’s every move in the form of
Nemesis. But where the game
really distinguishes itself from
the rest of the survival horror
pack is in its branching paths.
Your decisions throughout
the game will affect the out-
come of Jill’s plight and the
game’s ending.

Capcom has made sure to
differentiate the DC port of RE3

from its PlayStation counterpart
by making several goodies
available from the very start of
the game. Treats such as eight
different costumes for Jill will
be initially available, rather
than having to be unlocked, as
well as the bonus game, Merce-
naries, in which you control one
of three different Umbrella mili-
tary members (each with his
own specific equipment and
characteristics) in a survival
type mini-game that mimics the
Battle Mode in Code Veronica.

With Nemesis joining the

action adventure fray on DC
along with D/no Crisis and RE2,
gamers won’t be left high and
dry in the zombie department

this holiday season. Fans
should definitely take Capcom
up on its offer, francesca reyes

PUBLISHER CAPCOM DEVELOPER CAPCOM
GENRE SURVIVAL HORROR ORIGIN JAPAN
PLAYERS 1 ONLINE NO RELEASE DATE NOV

Pluses [+]

Another RE title for Dreamcast can't
be a bad thing at all, can it?

Minuses [-]

The quality of the port is key to how
well RE3 will be ultimately received

Bottom Line [_]

While it's not exactly a reinvention of
the survival horror wheel, fans will
definitely appreciate the zombified
effort from Capcom. And you certainly
can't beat the asking price: $19.99.

www.dreamcastmagazine.com.

Holiday 2000 Official # Dreari-icast Magazine 65

COMINGSO0

‘Chicken Run: You’ll build a catapult to launch chickens over the fence.” evanshamoon

In von f of

Lighting played a
huge role in the
film— and it’s
equally significarrf
in the game.

Chicken Run

It's what's for Dreamcast.

-A

Chicken (Brave) Heart

HE'S PLAYED THE ANGUISHED
Prince Hamlet, a killer Celt, and
a plucky fowl: Mel Gibson has nib-
bled on both the dark meat and the
light meat of acting fare. Factoid:
The critics at ODCM tout Australian
WWI drama Gallipoli a s one of his
best films ever. See it with Kleenex.

Our entire staff except for Dave
absolutely loved Chicken Run, and
we recommend that those who
haven't yet seen it promptly do so.
Dave never made it out to the
movie, but apparently likes to cook
chicken 365 different ways, as per
the cookbook we found suspiciously
stashed behind the microwave
in his kitchen.

espite Dreamworks’
spectacularly obnoxious
cross-promotional tie-in
with meat-mogul Burger King,
Chicken Run was easily one of
the finest movies of 2000. An
ingenious homage to John
Sturges’ The Great Escape (and
a slew of other great World War II
POW camp escape movies),
Chicken Run is an epic battle
between man and bird, contain-
ment and freedom— poultry and
liberty. And apparently, some-
one over at Blitzgames thought
it was a great idea for a
videogame. So do we.

Think Metal Gear Solid ... with

chickens. Gameplay is focused
on finding a way for the chickens
to fly the coop, so to speak.

Alternating control between
Ginger and Rocky, players must
use their tactical-espionage-
action skills to navigate their way
through 14 levels of Tweedy
Farm, outwitting dogs, search-
lights and the nasty Mr. and Mrs.

Tastes like Chicken?

The production of Chicken Run
was nothing short of a technical
and creative marvel, and we've
compiled a small list of factoids:

a) 40 animators worked on the film,
which took three years to make.

b) Claymation requires such impossibly
meticulous work that on a typical
day, 28 individual sets would be oper-
ating simultaneously— resulting in ten
seconds of completed film.

c) Chicken Run was born when direc-
tor/producer Nick Park made a
simple sketch of a chicken digging
under a wire fence with a spoon.

Tweedy along the way. You’ll
have to find various objects scat-
tered about the farm, and then
use that resourceful brain of
yours to figure out how to put
the items together in order to
expedite your escape. Build a
catapult to launch chickens over
the fence. Strap fireworks to the
backs of your feathered friends
(placing you into a mini-game
where you shoot them over the
fence into various parts of the
farmyard). In short: figure out
how to get the heck out of
Dodge before you’re turned
into McNuggets.

While the storyline is going

to remain consistent with the
plot of the movie, gameplay will
be as non-linear as possible.

Players will be able to explore
environments and complete
different tasks in any order they
like, and the folks at Blitzgames
have scripted the camera to give
the player the best view of the
action— while it simultaneously
provides gorgeous cinematic
views throughout the game. A
combination of actual movie
clips and specially-scripted cut-
scenes adds to the excitement
of the proceedings as well;
oddly, the main engine looks
nothing like the animation style
used in the game.

Eidos has licensed the original

cinematic voice actors (except
for Mel Gibson, who’s waffling
on the project) to bring
Chicken Run’s world to life.

While the early build we’ve
been playing certainly has
a ways to go, the potential is
definitely there— and we can’t
wait to get out hands on a
final build.

EVAN SHAMOON

|— ^yOfficiali-S'Magazine ,

Dreamcast

PUBLISHER EIDOS DEVELEPOER BLITZGAMES
GENRE ADVENTURE ORIGIN UK PLAYERS 1
ONLINE TBA RELEASE DATE DECEMBER

PLUSES [+]

Great concept, great movie, great
potential— we’ve thoroughly enjoyed
what we’ve played so far

Minuses [-]

Nine out of ten licensed games suck

Bottom Line [_]

The more of it we see, the more of it
we want

66 Official# Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.DailyRadar.con

sfora mi

'M you UO.

aamestonicom

Reserve-.your copy how at any of our ov4rfl|
Oi x do it m minutes online at
Either way nobody gets to play hefd;

Babbages

"Thanks to Dreamcast’s built-in modem and
its Sega Gaming Network, gamers can play Phantasy Star Online with players
ail across the world. Communication will be handled in realtime, and Sega
will combat language differences by allowing characters to talk via
symbols. Open-ended play will ensure that a person can log on to the
Network to play the game and move freely throughout Phantasy Star’s
fantastical world. Gameplay takes place on an alien world, and
people will be reguired to battle strange monsters, solve
puzzles, and share both information and items. Sega plans a
simultaneous release for the game in the United
States, Japan, and Europe. Don’t miss this one.”
liTlTmTil -DailyRadar.com

aameston!com

Machine: Dreamcast Genre: Online RPG Publisher: Sega
# of Players: 1- Netplay Available: February, 2001

Huge animated characters
make for amazing graphics throughout.

The rich, vibrant colors are in stark
contrast to the muddy hues of PC games.

f tr Uu Crtmeit*.

Your Direct Line To Everything New

Reserve the hottest titles at gamestop.com
or visit any of our 950 stores nationwide.

Take ultimate control
with the Sega Control Pad for
Dreamcast systems.

Make the corner and lose the competition.

Machine: Dreamcast Genre: Racing
Publisher: Sega # of Players: 1 Available: February, 2001

Sega Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit by Sega.
Save information from your Dreamcast and play with
that data while you are away from your Dreamcast.

The MC2 Racing Wheel by Mad Catz
is the next generation of racing wheels.

pmaamifeaH Ftacd£4ua&

ito# Babbages software

-yit.v "

Get A Jump On The New Stuff ,t 1

by reserving it at Gamestop.com or visiting id F ,

us at any of our 950 stores nationwide. iL- V

tStm &■£!»

Ahh, The Open Road,
The Clean Air, The
Highway Patrol In Your
Rear-View Mirror.

“The aim of 18 Wheeler is simple, effective and addictive, which is typical of Sega.

Trucking around the States - starting in New York and eventually wind-
ing up in San Francisco— players must carry cargo from one location
to another. The idea is not to lose too much of the load and to
make it to the destination on time. Players don’t compete solely
against the clock, however. Instead, there is a rival truck
(with an aggressive trucker inside) that wreaks
havoc, tries to get to the destination before the
player and attempts to force the
player off the road at every turn,”

- DailyRadar.com

HWUHI

WHFfl PR
wmcciicn

■

Wipe Out Terrorism
Without Leaving
Your Bedroom. X

Jgar "Digital equivalents of paintball have been around for a while now.

W Sega’s effort, Outtrigger, has the potential to top the fiercely contested first-
™ person genre. Yes, while Quake 3, Timesplftters and Unreal Tournament have
been on the receiving end of much publicity and hype, Sega’s world-famous R&D #2
has been lovingly crafting the shooter to end all shooters. Originally an arcade
title, Outtrigger is nevertheless stunningly realistic. In execution it is a match
for any of the aforementioned blasters, even standing up to I

the mighty, albeit dated, GoldenEye.” - DailyRadar.com t J

First In Line or On-Line

Buy newest titles on-line or
visit any of our 950 stores nationwide.

Enter data quicker and surf the net
easier with the Dreamcast Keyboard.

The Dreamcast Mouse is the best way
to get into your first person shooter games.

Babbages software

HarfMan
Half Machine
All Bad-Ass

,, ... B “This third-person action game will take players through seven levels filled
3 with the evil Dread soldiers. Each level contains up to four sections, and
Max Steel will have to kick, punch and explode his way through each one of
them to stop the evil organization. Helping Max along the way will be special
powers that he can use to his advantage such as Stealth (which turns him
invisible for a short time) and Turbo (which should need no explanation). Weapons are
laying around just waiting to be picked up by the first passerby. Grenades aplenty can
by found in the most obscure places, and can be thrown at enemies or
friends, depending on the mood of the player.” - DailyRadar.com

.international agent, and snappy dresser.

Get A Jump
On The New Stuff

by reserving it at Gamestop.com
or visiting us at any of
our 950 stores nationwide.

Sega Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit by Sega.

Save information from your Dreamcast and play with
that data while you are away from your Dreamcast.

Enhance your gaming experience
with the Madcatz Advanced Controller for
Sega Dreamcast systems

Babbages

Experience
Whole New
Unreality.

“Sometimes it’s hard to decide between Ginger or Mary Ann, Mountain I
Dew or Mello Yello, the Jaguar or the Ferrari, And if we had to make a 1
choice between Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament we’d hem and haw for a
short while then go with Unreal Tournament. Its smoother network code,
different styles of play and far superior weapons give it a slight edge in our
books. So naturally we were amped to get our hands on it for our new

favorite toy. Clear a space on your gaming shelf for this one.’’
W'fiMJ - DailyRadar.com

TOURNAMENT

Machine: Dreamcast Genre: Action # of Players: 1-3
Publisher: Infogrames Available: November, 2000

32 unbelievably addictive
levels designed to maximize the fun.

Gripping single player experience
that casts you in the role of a team leader.

Unparalleled user friendliness.

First In Line or On-Line

Buy newest titles on-line or
visit any of our 950 stores nationwide.

Blast your game to the next
level with Interacts Astro Pad for
Sega Dreamcast systems.

earth-shattering vibrations through your

Babbage's

are incorporating “Raimi-
esque" cinematic camera
movements and angles to
heighten the drama, and the
absence of any and all load-
times during gameplay should
help keep things moving along
at a steady clip. Set for a
November release date, Hail to
the King has some promise—
but it certainly has a ways to
go before it can even be men-
tioned in the same breath as
classics like Resident Evil.

Look for the full review next

iSSUe. EVAN SHAMOON

PUBLISHER THQ DEVELOPER HEAVY IRON
STUDIOS GENRE ACTION ORIGIN US PLAYERS 1
ONLINE NO RELEASE DATE DECEMBER

Pluses [+]

The cult following of the Evil Dead
series will certainly dig the dark
humor and gameplay

Minuses [-]

Early versions for DC weren't looking
as sharp as they could've, but we'll
wait until the final product

Bottom Line [_]

With a great license and Bruce Camp-
bell at the plate, we're anxious to see
if the final product lives up to our high
expectations...stay tuned

i n a nice move to

further diversify
Dreamcast’s games
library, Red Storm Entertain-
ment (mainly known for its
hallmark achievements in
strategic shooters on Earth)
is planning to boldly go
where only a small handful
of developers for DC have
gone: into outer space with
loads of ammo. First
released for PC in July,

Bang!: Gunship Elite received
a warm welcome, but never
quite found its niche, as PC
gamers shied away from its
action-oriented gameplay.
But now, with its debut on
console gearing up, we’re
more than ready to test out
this action-flavored shooter
for ourselves on the format
that it was meant to be
played on. Console.

With a refreshingly simple

storyline revolving around a
young pilot named Xaha, you
find yourself ensconced in
the cockpit of a spacecraft
with nothing but your can-
nons, guns and other various
weaponry to do the talking
for you. Which turns out to
be the only thing that
detracts from the storyline-
all of the fighting you’ll do
(against a formidable enemy
fleet in the outer reaches of
wonderfully high-res starry
space) will most often be

done on a solo basis. Like
that would really happen.

With this in mind, you’ll
have only the comfort of up
to nine wonderfully imple-
mented weapons, with which
you can deliver a steady
stream of rich, graphically
impressive attacks that
serve to separate this
shooter from other similar
titles on Dreamcast (like
StarLancer or Armada)— you
can actually see and feel the
difference between weapons
while you’re zipping through
asteroid fields or dogfighting
around enemy bases.

Easy on the eyes and
showing off some flair for
weapons physics in one fell
swoop, Bang!’ s 19 different
missions aim to satisfy
virtually any space shooter
fan who owns a Dreamcast.
And the action-packed
gameplay promises to
deliver when the game
releases this winter.

FRANCESCA REYES

PUBLISHER RED STORM DEVELOPER
RAYLAND INTERACTIVE GENRE SHOOTER
PLAYERS 1 ONLINE NO ORIGIN US
RELEASE NOVEMBER

Holiday 2000 Official # Dreamcast Magazine 73

Sunrise on Dream-
0M cast... it’s always

■ ■ such a lovely sight.

Ddllgii

Gunship Elite

What's silver, fully armed
and goes “bang, bang?”

“If you’re not pumping adrenaline in B-O, you’re doing something wrong.” franoesca reyes

under survival horror comedy

relatively rare technique allows
for some impressive effects
(shadows, skies, etc) which
simply can’t be achieved with
other methods. And the
environments themselves mix
popular Evil Dead settings with
some neat new locales.

The combat system allows

players to move and attack
with multiple weapons simulta-
neously, but the control was a
bit stiff and awkward in the
version we played. Fully
upgradable weapons— including
Evil Dead staples like the axe,
rifle, shotgun, and legendary
chainsaw— will be available in
the final version. Plus, a full
inventory screen allows players
to collect objects and piece
them together to solve prob-
lems (we saw a scene in which
Ash ripped a starter rope from
an broken lawnmower and
then used it to— well, we won’t
spoil it for you).

The plot continues the
ongoing saga of Ash and the
Necronomicon, with in-game
cut-scenes as well as pre-ren-
dered sequences enabling the
story to unfold. The developers

am Raimi’s Evil Dead
films— in all of their
technical, comedic and
cinematic genius— have
become essential viewing
for any self-respecting gamer
(ProTip: when a pop-cultured
gamer-type asks you whether
or not you have seen Evil Dead 2,
do yourself a favor and answer
yes, regardless). THQ clearly
recognized this reality, and
promptly snatched up the
videogame rights to the series.

Enter Evil Dead: Hail to the

King. A survival horror game
in the vein of Resident Evil
and Silent Hill, HTTK attempts
to combine those games’
successful formula of sus-
pense, action and puzzle-
solving with the signature
brand of bloodstained,
over-the-top humor found in
the films. The game also
makes use of streaming video
environments, similar in theory
to those employed by Mizuguchi
& Co. in Space Channel 5.
While the graininess of the
background video footage
detracts somewhat from the
experience as a whole, this

www.dreamcastmaga 2 ine.com

COMINGSOON

Previews

which include Nature Zone
and Emerald Coast. Your job is
to flip through a set of cards;
picking one will determine how
many ‘spaces’ you’ll get to
move when your turn comes
up. The slots on the game
board differ— some give you
a set amount of gold rings,
while others remove rings from
your inventory. And there are
plenty of other types of slots
that you can land on, as well,
including ones which will lead
you to Mini-Events.

When you’re transported
into Mini-Events, you'll be faced
with meeting spontaneous
challenges in a whole mess of
wacky sub-games. You might,
for example, end up playing hot

Sonic Shuffle

You ve been invited to the wildest, wackiest party in the game world

a omebody out there is

finally kicking down with
a bag of noisemakers
and some funny little paper
hats, and throwing Sega’s lil’
blue mascot, Sonic and his
furry friends (Amy Rose, Tails,
Knuckles and three others)
a proper multiplayer party
send-up. In much the same
vein as other party games like
Crash Bash (PlayStation) and
Mario Party (N64), Sonic Shuffle
certainly isn’t the normal
hedgehog fare that most Sega
fans are used to— instead, it
takes place in the retroland of
card and board games.

The game is split into two

different modes: Versus and

Story. Both feature the same
gameplay, but the Story Mode
introduces players to a handful
of characters that are brand-
new to the Sonic universe-
including an evil and mysterious
villain, Void, and a beautiful
Guardian Angel named lllumina.

Play happens in a world

called Maginary Whirl, which is
currently in danger of changing
from its pleasant, pastel-colored
self into something that is alto-
gether darker and much less
welcoming. This is all due to the
arrival of Void, a bug-eyed
stranger who has destroyed
the Precioustone that holds
Maginary Whirl together. Void
(drat him!) has split the gem

into several different pieces,
and now it’s up to Sonic and his
friends to put things back
together and to restore order—
and of course, to face off

with His Voiditude in the end.

The main crux of the game

takes place on any of five
different game boards,

While Void is the main enemy of the
Maginary Whirl, you’ll still have to
deal with Dr. Robotnik throughout
the game’s mini-games and
miscellaneous events.

IT ALL STARTED way back in 1990, when Sega Japan’s president, Hayao
Nakayama, was looking for a mascot to define Sega’s new attitude in the
videogames marketplace. The winner was none other than Naoto Oshimo and his
design of a deceptively small, dynamic blue hedgehog. Oshimo was subsequently
asked to work with Yuji Naka and his team in order to bring his creation to 16bit
life on Sega’s embryonic MegaDrive/Genesis. The rest, of course, is history.

74 Official Dreamrast Maga7ine Holiday 2000

www.DailyRadar.com

The gameboard in Sonic Shuffle is packed with surprises as well as pitfalls.” francesca reyes

J V-rC"j This

.V / Ta* / game’s
, imaginary

1 world, Maginary

Whirl, contains a
guardian angel of
' A. j the pixie-ish ilk called
^ lllumina. She asks
Sonic and his pals to save her
universe from the enemy called
Void, and the ball starts rolling
and never stops.

Like any other Sonic game worth its spiky blue salt,
Shuffle places an emphasis on collecting rings, as
well as Precioustones. You can win rings by landing
on specific squares of the gameboard or by winning
different mini-games. Pull a combo on the game-
board, and you’ll double your rings. But be
careful— you can lose rings just as easily if you’re
defeated in battle (above) or if you land on a red
square (top).

If you land on an Event
Square, you’ll be transported
to a new area where you can
participate in all sorts of
wackiness ranging from
all-out tank warfare (far left)
to a strange Robotnik-induced
game of tag (left). There are
even more games waiting for
players, including some non-
interactive events and bouts
of weird and wonderful trivia
segments. Sonic aficianados
will have a blast.

ijjffr Hsep £

MS&rfE ' -w

yss (!)

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potato with a live bomb, or tag
with three other players— or with
the CPU, if you’re by yourself.

You might also be called upon
to answer quick trivia question-
naires. No matter the context,
these Mini-Events will definitely
keep players engrossed through
the long race for the Precious-
tone— which has been expertly
placed somewhere on the
game board map.

Of course, collecting rings

and playing through Mini-Events
isn’t all there is to do in Sonic
Shuffle. If you happen to land
on a Battle Square, for
instance, you’ll have to duke
it out with any number of
strange beasts— and the way

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

in which you’ll fight is vastly
different from the way in which
battles play out in a standard
action or adventure game.

First, you'll choose a card.

Depending on the number on
the card, you’ll have a distinct
advantage or disadvantage
against the monster you’re
facing. Your foe will also have
a card: and if your card's
number is greater than his,
you’ll be able to pack a
bigger punch.

Once in awhile, you might
find yourself picking a card
imprinted with the letter “S”—
which, predictably, stands for
“Special.” Your character
will then be able to unleash a

specialized attack, which is
customized for whichever
character you are using.
Therefore, if you pick the S
card as Sonic, prepare for
some serious spin-dashing
to destroy your opponent.

The game board itself is

also packed with surprises
and pitfalls. Some areas will
require you to climb to reach
the next level, but only Knuck-
les has this ability— so you’ll
have to figure out another way
to reach the goal if you’re play-
ing through as someone like
Tails. There are also slots on
the map that work as random
transports, moving you to
other parts of the game board.

Of course, whether you’ll land
closer or further from the goal
is purely a matter of luck.

Visually, Sonic Shuffle looks

drastically different from any
of its lightning-paced predeces-
sors, due to a little trick called
cel-shading.

Like Jet Grind Radio, Sonic
Shuffle sports a 2D cartoony
look that works well in the
game’s 3D universe. The result
is something that is quite fresh,
and incredibly hipper than the
look of a straightforward 3D
game. Fans everywhere will be
seeing Sonic in a whole new
light, and playing with him in a
whole new way. As we speak,
the game is sitting on shelves

just waiting for some serious
play time. Look for a full review
next issue, francesca reyes

PUBLISHER SEGA DEVELOPER HUDSONSOFT
GENRE MULTIPLAYER ORIGIN US PLAYERS 1 -4

ONLINE NO (SOB...] RELEASE DATE NOVEMBER

Pluses [+]

Good lookin', long playin', mini-game
packin', multiplayer supportin'
goodness with Sonic in it

Minuses [-]

Load times could use some work; not
Sonic's usual fast-paced fare

Bottom Line [_]

Four-player fun no matter how you
slice it, but will it appeal to fans of
Sonic and find a party-game following
on Dreamcast? We'll have to wait and
see how it turns out

Holiday 2QQQ Official # Dreamcast MagaziaeTS

EH COMING

Previews

It’s once, twice, three times a bloodfest

FIGHTING GIANT BUGS, KILLING GIANT BUGS and flooding the
city streets with the oozing green guts of giant bugs is hard work.
Thankfully, this game gives you a unique
reward for all of this slog (to make up
for the fact that Uncle Sam cuts Squad
members out of full medical "

and dental programs) — you'll
get to see your handiwork
replayed at the end of each 4 M. *?■
level, from a camera angle nHKflu J

that appropriately repre-

sents the game's is.

cinematic influences.

Low-budge monster flicks f

ain't dead: they just
moved onto

Dreamcast and ' 7, **

started costing a Bb B -gj* '

lot. more to make. 9"^. B

“C'NB is darned easy on the eyes so far.” brandon justice

Change ’N Blast

This just in: Outer space is still full of ugly, angry monsters hell-bent on destruction

hose pesky aliens.

Always dropping in
uninvited. What’s a self-
respecting earthling supposed
to do, except.. .blast ’em!

Yeah, the premise that drives
Xicat Interactive’s upcoming
arcade shooter, Charge 'N Blast
is about as original as the latest
menu item at Taco Bell— but like
the Super Cheezy Chili Enchirito
(or whatever handy -ito they’re
pimping this week), it may
indeed provide an experience
that could be called totally new.
Or at least, new to Dreamcast.

In C’NB, you’ll take the role of

one of three sharp-shooting
mech pilots with an extreme
distaste for extraterrestrials,
sent in by the government to
stop the latest attack in a wave

of alien invasions. At first
glance, you’d think this game
was the perfect candidate for
lightgun compatibility— but
as it turns out, what we’ve got
here is a deceptively intense
blend of accuracy and timing
in a traditional arcade format.

Basically, you’ve just got to

figure out what weapon to use,
when to unload it, and how on
earth you’re going to make it all
happen before your ‘energy cell’
(i.e., ‘time limit’) hits rock bottom.

The premise is simple, to be
sure— but the action is anything
but. After a few rounds of single-
player experience, you’ll be able
to tell that this is much more
than attempt to cash in on
the seemingly endless craze
surrounding giant robots and

the destruction of public prop-
erty. We can say this, because
despite the fact that Charge ’N
Blast fits this mold, it doesn’t
even pretend to be a ‘sim’.

' jf&jt

Love thy neighbor

WITH THE KINDER, gentler atti-
tude of the new Millennium, the
mindset of "Us Versus Them"
with regard to extraterrestrials
has now become as extinct as TV
shows about extraterrestrials.

We here at OOCM credit the
mind-blowing '80s TV show ALF
for breaking down the barriers.

You’ve got three distinct
weapons (each of which can
be ‘charged’ for increased
power), a fully destructible
environment that hopes your
aim is better than the plot, and
a whole mess of ugly space
freaks who’ re pretty set on
sticking your rail gun where
the sun don’t shine.

Kill all the bad guys, move to

the next area, lather, rinse,
repeat. And when you take
out the end boss, be sure to
get your camera ready for the
delightfully messy (as opposed
to spectacularly subtle) action
replay. It’s to die for.

The game is darned easy on
the eyes so far, and since we’re
looking at a pretty linear focus,
we expect Charge 'N Blast to

look even better by the time it
releases and we slap a score
on it. Check back next issue to
see if our prediction holds true.

BRANDON JUSTICE

■— ^Official©Magazine ,

Dreamcast.

PUBLISHER XICAT DEVELOPER SIMS GENRE
ARCADE SHOOTER ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS I -2
ONLINE NO RELEASE DATE DECEMBER

Pluses [+]

Simple yet addictive action for one or
two players; slick monster movie visuals
and tons of biiiiiiig explosions!

Minuses [-]

Extremely linear, simplistic gameplay
may be too much for short attention
spans

Bottom Line [_]

Arcade-style shoot 'em ups are a dying
breed. Hopefully, this game on Dream-
cast will help to keep them from going
the way of the dodo altogether

Z6_Qfficia Dream Holiday 20QQ im.DjiiyR.idnr.toi

“If you’re not pumping adrenaline in B-0, you're doing something wrong.” francesca reyes

BUS

■

wpspki

j ■

^ UFl

Iron Aces

Ah, World War 2: when men were
men and air combat was sweet...

F a orget stories about take place over smoothly tex-
how to install a 3D tured backgrounds, and
card or why Linux depending on the mission, the

really is the operating system sky comes alive with head-to-
of the future. There’s simply head air combat over one of
nothing quite like a flight sim many numerous backdrops,
for putting the average console Clouds race by and enemy
gamer to sleep. Despite the planes are dispatched by can-
fact that the prospect of shoot- non fire that explodes against
ing down the air forces of a the fading sunlight in a spec-
power-hungry country is a tacular symphony. And if the

pretty tasty bait, the typical first go ’round wasn’t enough,

interface of such titles is often Iron Aces also offers up a

far too intimidating and unre- replay mode that lets you
sponsive for most armchair appreciate anything you might
flyboys to even bother trying. have missed while trying to
But Iron Aces, a somewhat keep your plane in the air in
over-the-top (read: B-movie the heat of battle,
cheesy) fighter pilot extrava-
ganza, is set to shoot down While this sort of action may
this stereotype and introduce not be for everyone, Iron Aces
some real, console-friendly should offer up a ride worth
airborne action. taking for flight buffs or any-

one who wants to zoom

Set amidst the turmoil of around in the great grey sky

A DC gem from Treasure is finally heading West

World War 2, you’re cast as a without paying for flight
rookie pilot engaged in a small school. ODCM plans to hop

t LA’s recent E3

convention, there was
one lone banner for a
quirky shooter called Bangai-0
(. Bakuretumuteki Bangaioh in
Japan), developed by an old-
school master, Treasure
[Gunstar Heroes, Guardian
Heroes, etc.). And that’s all we
knew, until it was announced
that Conspiracy Games was
piloting the game through the
localization tunnel for a
December release.

Bangai-0 places gamers in
the cockpit of a giant mech with
bombs to spare. Your job is to
destroy everything onscreen
that gets in the way of finishing
the level. The more you blow up,
the higher your “explosion
meter” will rise, powering up
your ultimate weapon in the

form of a multi-directional blast
that will eliminate most ene-
mies within a certain radius.

Emphasis of play is on pure

pure freneticism. If you’re not
pumping adrenaline through
these 40+ stages, you’re doing
something wrong. Every level
will tax your dexterity with the
fire button, and you might even
have to reacquaint yourself with
that soft, mushy gray matter
called Your Brain in order to
make real progress.

When the game released in

Japan, some US importers
complained that the characters
and action onscreen were too
small and hard to follow— but
this simply puts the focus
on the visual overload of

explosions that lie at the crux
of the gameplay. It’s the perfect
holiday fix for all of you
Treasure fans.

FRANCESCA REYES

PUBLISHER CONSPIRACY GAMES DEVELOPER
TREASURE GENRE SHOOTER ORIGIN JAPAN
PLAYERS 1 -2 ONLINE NO RELEASE DATE

DECEMBER

Pluses [+]

Treasure does what it always does
best: shooters

Minuses [-]

Could be a niche title for fans or old-
school junkies only

Bottom Line [_]

A guaranteed homerun for niche
gamers with its wacky character cast
and solid oldskool shooter mentality.
It might even put some calluses on
our trigger fingers again...

but pivotal conflict over a
handful of islands in the
Pacific— and of course, you
get caught up in a larger plot
to save the free world from
certain doom. You’ll
do everything from
routine patrolling
of friendly territory
to engaging in
heated dogfights
with the enemy.

This in-air insanity

comes to us via a
simple yet
functional console
interface, and the
Dreamcast has
proven itself to be
quite capable of
handling the action
with style. Missions

into the cockpit soon for a full
review— so be sure to check
your radar for the final word in
the near future.

BRANDON JUSTICE

■

A: . <V

★

Baker

We’ve been flying for quite a while since we
first took off from our aircraft carrier, but
we've finally arrived at our destination.

We’re betting that Baker’s onscreen
message above will be pretty redundant:
you’ll know you’ve reached your destina-
tion when all kinds of enemies are
suddenly shooting at you.

www.drftamcastmagayinfT.com

Holiday 2000 Official # Dreamcast Magazine 77

I;< Vi!

The face
that launched a
thousand
tricks...

Tony Hawk is
one of the few
celebrities who’s
cool enough to
retain the title
‘cool’ even after
becoming a
celebrity.

i f f ith bated breath and

I A i twitchy thumbs, we
mmJ shredded open the
Activision-emblazoned FedEx
package. Inside, swaddled in
alluring bubble-wrap, stood
one lone, defiant disc bearing
the letters “T-H-P-S” etched in
Sharpie across its shiny face.
Was this the final build we had
been so anxiously awaiting for
the last six months, or just
some sick prank dreamed up
by Activision’s PR department?

Yup, you guessed it. It was
a sick prank.

The next day, however, they
really did send us the final
build. And ladies and germs,
this is exactly what we have

all been waiting for— a brilliant
refinement of an already spec-
tacular game. It looks better,
it sounds better, it retains the
best control in the business,
and it's packed full of more
secrets and hidden features
than, well, Tony Hawk’s Pro
Skater. Yes, you need it.

Fear not though, Hawk

veterans— the insanely great
feel has been left intact. As in
the first title, control is
absolutely bang-on— this is
one of the few games in
which your character does
exactly what you want him to
do, exactly when you want
him to do it. There are now far

Tony Hawk’s
Pro Skater 2

The Godfather of Roll returns

** j

4849

SWITCH.

SPECIAL

The Peanut Gallery Strikes B ack

GREGORY ORLANDO

Reviewed: Star Wars: Demolition Racer, Buzz Lightyear

Yes, fair readers, the Orlando Magic is back again for even
more Dreamcast reviewing goodness. But that’s not all, he’s
privy to yet another Star Wars title. FYI: Greg also tried to
pass off yet another “Why Boba Fett Must Die" boxout
before we filed suit to make the insanity stop. It did.

Our Scoring System

10 instant classic

9 phenomenal

8 excellent

7 good

6 for fans

5 average

4 mediocre

3 flawed

2 its mom loves it

1 coaster

Welcome to
JEST ZONE

With the wealth of Dreamcast titles that have been unleashed
on gamers this holiday season, it’s only fitting that we call upon our review-
ers to respond in kind with a flurry of words (and something we choose to
liken to “wisdom") that will help you spend your cash wisely. We also find it
fitting that you see the clever chaps behind the scores. Don't be afraid.

“Let us put it this way— when was the last time you played a game to get the high score?" evan shamoon

/VO COMPLY * BS 5-0 ♦ OLLIB NORTH

more tricks to pull off, and the
manual is a huge addition as
well. (For those who don’t
know, a manual is essentially
a wheelie on a skateboard.) By
pulling off a manual between
every ramp and rail, you can
now theoretically link every
trick in your entire session into
one glorious combo. Madness.

Perhaps the largest addition

to THPS2 is the enhanced
career mode, which provides a
thick dose of extended game-
play. In the first game, players
earned videotapes in order to
progress through the game,
unlocking secrets and opening
up new levels along the way.
This time, we’ve graduated to
cash rewards— which means
that while you must still
achieve the same strange

BLAKE FISCHER

Reviewed: Samba de Amigo

Also known in the office as “He who shakes the Maracas” (trans-
lated from Japanese), Blake would like to think that he’s as good
at Virtua Tennis as he is at Samba de Amigo. But the truth is that
Mr. Fischer is much more adept with a maraca than with a tennis
racket. Of course, we could say that about a lot of people.

JIM PRESTON

Reviewed: Metropolis Street Racer, Pod: Speed Zone

Far be it from us to separate Jim from his beloved racing games.
We suspect that his fixation might stem from something in his
childhood, perhaps a family vacation gone horribly wrong-but
don’t quote us on that Now, Jim likes to be in control of the
wheel and had the enviable job of reviewing MSR. Lucky buck.

BRANDON JUSTICE

Reviewed: StarLancer

CHET BARBER

Reviewed: Capcom Vs. SNK

Some people love Capcom and SNK... and then there’s Chet
We won’t go so far as to mention his shrine to lori Yagami or
Chun Li in his kitchen at home, but we will say this: If there's
anyone who could best the entire office in a trivia contest
based on 2D fighters, Chet's the man. Hadoken.

No, pal, not that kind of scoring

system. If it were, we sure wouldn’t give
it away for free— we’d be selling it in the
back of Maxim for $29.99. And Evan
would have a date this weekend.

We score games on a scale of 1 to
10. When we believe a game is just aver-
age, we give it 5 out of 10. If its appeal
is aimed directly at fans of either its
genre or its series but is not something
that will be enjoyed by everyone, it gets
6 out of 10. And we’ve even added a
spiffy new scoring system for graphics,
sound, control and gameplay!!

Peripherals are another story. Since
it doesn’t make much sense to score a
VMU or an extension cord on a 1-10
scale, we’ve created an incredibly clever
and cute smiley-face score system. We
hope you'll find it self-explanatory.

Dream Game Award*

With Dreamcast’s promising software
lineup, we won’t be hard-pressed to pick
a game every issue that goes above and
beyond the call of greatness. For this
singular type of game, we’ve concocted
our special award: the Dream Game
Award. The title that is so duly honored
is guaranteed to be good, no matter who
you are or what type of games you like
to play. An essential purchase!

* Small print somewhere in this mag
secures your legal agreement to buy all
Dream Game Award titles immediately.

We're not sure how much trashtalking goes on when Brandon
gets his game going online, but we do know that he’s not
one to back down from a challenge. He took time from review
writing to dogfight us to the death in an online match of Star
Lancer. We called it quits when he brought out the frogs.

It's as addictive as action games used to be— like Pac-Man and Donkey
Kong. Xcept it’s more with xtreme sportage and the what-not.

goals (like collecting S-K-A-T-E
or picking up level-related
goodies), each of these
accomplishments is now
worth hard currency. With the
cash you earn, you’ll be able

to purchase everything from
new tricks to improved skater
stats, and with enough bank
you’ll even be able to unlock
new levels. This year, there are
ten objectives per park (double

www.dreamcastmaga;

Holiday 2000 Official Drea mcast. Magazine 79.

Tony Hawk 2's sound effects
are outstanding, with a great
blend of ambient noise (nearby
cars, trains, skate competition
announcers, etc) and high-quality
sound samples. The clink of your
trucks hitting a metal rail is
superb— and the sounds vary with
varying surfaces. We bet that the
guy who produced the sound of
human flesh being scraped
across pavement based his effect
on some pretty painful memories.
See? You can make something
good out of just about anything.

S it? Mie'ee

MULLETS GALORE

THE LIST OF PROS KNOCKIN'
THPS2’s boots is impressive,
featuring returning Hawk rets
such as Bueky Lasek. Jamie
Thomas, Elissa Steamer, and
the indomitable Bob Bnm-
quist, as we.ll as three
newcomers, Eric Koston, Rod-
ney Mullen and old-schooler
Steve Caballero. In addition to
a slew of hidden characters,
THPS2 also includes a create-
a-skater feature, which
enables you to customize
absolutely everything about
your prince of suburbia— from
his hairstyle to clothing,
board, tricks and skating style.
It's the .Princess Make r you
don’t feel ashamed to love.

the number in the original)— and
some are tougher than week-old
sourdough. Rest assured, it will
take you quite a bit of time and
dedication to clean this baby dry
(the only complaint that we
could make, in fact, is that some
of the game’s challenges are a
bit too difficult— deciphering
some of the relatively vague
level goals is often more frustrat-
ing than we would have liked.)

One of THPS2’s most-bally-

hooed features is its built-in
skatepark editor. With more
than 100 parts at your dis-
posal-including ramps, rails,
pools, funboxes and quarter
pipes— the possibilites are virtu-
ally endless. And once you’ve
created the ultimate park, you
can save it to a VMU and tote it
on over to a friend’s house to
skate it, trade it or simply stick

it in his ear— whatever your
heart desires. While we would
have liked to see some
expanded features in the DC
version of the editor (read: more
memory/bigger levels), it’ll still
steal your hours and provide you
with endless replayability.

Visually, THPS2 is clearly a
step ahead of its forefather
(actually, more like a hop, skip
and a jump). Treyarch has gone
the extra mile this time around,
polishing the graphics to a
glossy sheen while managing to
preserve the essential grittiness
that has defined the series.
Environments are now far more
consistent, with nary a protrud-
ing polygon or uncleaned
texture to be found. Every tree,
streetlamp and stopsign in the
environment is now a fully three-
dimensional model, and skater
models are far superior to those

A loaded soundtrack floats tracks from Bad Religion,
Chuck D with Anthrax, and Rage Against the Machine

directed challenges.

The gameplay is entrenched in
the spirit of a free-roaming
adventure, and the unparalleled
level of freedom— combined
with the best control in the biz-
means that you’ll be all over
this baby like a cheap suit.

Enjoy. EVANSHAMOON

You know a game's good-looking when you can actually see the grooves in
the character’s sneaker. Okay, no you don’t— but dammit, it doesn't hurt.
PS: There’s actually a way to play as the Amazing Spidey in THPS 2.

of their elders. Fabric even
blows in the wind, which makes
us all warm and tingly inside.

And let us not forget about
the game’s stellar soundtrack,
which features tracks from 15
bands including Bad Religion
(“You”), Chuck D with Anthrax
("Bring the Noise”), and — May
their legacy live on forever— Rage
Against the Machine (“Guerilla
Radio”). It’s easily one of the
best videogame soundtracks
you’ll find, and it fits like a glove.

Like the original Tony Hawk,

THPS2 maintains a perfect
balance between arcade-
and simulation-style gameplay,
allowing for the realism that
skateboarding demands— and
the fantasy that videogames
rightfully facilitate. There is no
racing involved— rather than
going from point A to point B,
you can go anywhere you
choose, pulling off tricks and
flexing your skills in a series of

PUBLISHER ACTIVISION DEVELOPER NEVER-
SOFT/TREYARCH ORIGIN US PLAYERS 1 -2
PERIPHERALS VMU. JUMP PACK VMU PAGES 9
PRICE $44.99

Graphics 9

Excellent textures, skater models, real grafitti.

Sound 10

Rage Against the Machine. Oh, and lots rr

Control 10

The best around. And then s(

Gameplay 10

More, more and more of what you love

Score: 10

80 Official . _ Dreamcast Magazin

e Holiday 2QQQ

www.DallyRadar.com

Its 9:00 am.

December 7, 1941.

Do you know where

your Sega Dreamcast is?

Fly over 20 authentic WW II airplanes.

Challenge your dogfighting skills in 17
unique missions.

Realistic instrumentation puts you in
control of your craft 24/7.

If you know what's good for you, soldier, you're hooked into that
Sega Dreamcast defending the good ol‘ American Navy from the
enemy's surprise attack. And if you can stop 'em there, you'll have to
escort those B-29's in their definitive attack on the largest naval fleet
in the Pacific. I ain't talkin' "bout no walk in the park here, soldier;
this is an all out adrenaline rush of aerial combat. WW II style. Just
an Ace and his machine. Two creatures forged from burning metal,
moving as one. So strap into that Sega Dreamcast, soldier, and get
ready to become one of the boys; one of the Iron Aces.

©2000 Xicat Interactive, Ltd., © 2000 Global Arte Entertainment, Inc. Sega. Oreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks ol Sega Enterprises, Ltd. All other logos or trademarks are property of their respective owners

Slip Slidin' Away

To grab those big kudos, you'll need
plenty of style. One of the easiest
ways to impress the judges is to take
a sharp turn with a perfect power-
slide. Here's all you have to do:

1 . Tap the footbrake (L trigger) just
before you start to turn to put
weight onto the front wheels.

2. Hit the handbrake (A button) as
you turn.

3. When you begin to skid, wait for
the car's tail to swing out from
behind you.

4. Then, let go of the handbrake and
apply the footbrake while turning
into the skid.

5. Practice.

SUJGtChQ TIMING

Don't believe the hype: it doesn't come close to describing this game's goodness

a ome things just never

live up to the hype— like
Star Wars Episode 1,
the last Tyson fight, or the
PlayStation2. But occasionally,
something ramps up our expec-
tations and then completely
soars over them. Metropolis
Street Racer has been idling up
the Dreamcast’s onramp since
before the launch in ’99. ..and
now that it’s finally here, we can
safely say that it’s the kind of
masterpiece that leaves the
hype squatting in the dust.

There is so much fresh thinking

in MSR that we are certain that
some of its features are going
to become standard for future
driving si ms. The first thing we
noticed is that the game corre-
sponds to the time of day in all

three major cities— London,
Tokyo, and San Francisco—
as well as to the internal clock
on the Dreamcast. So, if you
are playing at noon in, say,
Toronto, it will be 9am in San
Francisco, 5pm in London,
and lam the next day in
Tokyo, exactly like in real
life. How cool is that?

Even better, MSR gets
closer to real life by modeling
its respective cities perfectly.
Since we happen to live in San
Francisco, you can take our
word for it that the game has
recreated our fair town superbly.
While it doesn’t model all three
cities entirely, it does feature
more than 250 circuits through

streets that look almost exactly
the same on your Dreamcast as
they do in real life. If you’re
about to make a trip through
London’s St. James’ park, San
Francisco’s Pacific Heights or
Tokyo’s Shibuya, you’d be
better off playing this game
than buying a map.

Your car's radio will push you

even deeper into the experience.
As you drive through the cities,
several fictitious radio stations
give you accurate traffic and
weather updates, and play the
latest hits from MSR ’ s playlist
of more than 25 eclectic rock,
pop, and country tunes. Don’t
like all the songs on the radio?
Switch to the “make your own
CD" mode, and select only
those songs you want to hear.

Every possible attention
to detail has been made,
including the fact that if you
drive through a tunnel, your
radio will lose reception.

But all of this exacting
realism comes to nothing
without a good game behind it.
Fortunately, the driving system
in MSR is a wonderful blend of
realism and fun. There are
more than 40 real-world cars
from 13 different manufacturers
to choose from, including the
Ford Mustang, Mercedes SL
and Alfa Romero Spider. While
you won’t have to worry about
tinkering with the suspension or
chassis, you will have to know
how to tap the brakes to avoid
understeer, and work the wheel
to get out of oversteer.

There are more than 25

Whip it!

WANT TO TAKE MSR’S SHOW ON
the road? Don't. Even little fender-
benders can cause whiplash — the
condition where the cervical ver-
tebrae in your neck are sprained,
dislocated or even fractured. Even
minor whiplash can result in hor-
ribly pinched nerves that require
weights added to the head or legs
to stretch the muscles and ease
the pain. Ugh! So keep the speed-
ing confined to your Dreamcast,
smart guy.

84 Official # Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.PajlyRgdar.com

Ever bought a new car? You do a
lot of sitting in an office, saying
“Yes” to questions like “Leather
upholstery?” And then someone
hits some buttons on a calcula-
tor and shows you the number,
and your entire lifestyle disap-
pears suddenly into the abyss
known as Your New
Car. MSR is
$49.99. You
do the math.

Metropolis
Speed Racer

FLYING THROUGH Tokyo in a
Jensen S-V8 is cool enough, but
when are games going to start
including the coolest car of all
time: the Mach 5? We can do
without Sprittle and Chim-Chim,
but what better way is there to
impress a hip chick like Trixie
than to use those jumping stilts
and spinning saw blades to cut
through courses in Shinjuku!? Go,
Speed Racer, Go!

chapters in MSR, each
containing ten challenges.

But winning isn’t as easy as
simply finishing with as fast a
time as possible. The game
uses a novel points system
called “kudos," awarding

players a certain number of
kudos after each race for
their performance in three
categories: skill, style and
handling. Your capacity to
open up new tracks and cars
is dependent upon your
number of kudos, and not your
position in the previous race:
and players can get beaucoup
kudos for stylishly skidding
through a turn, as well as for
finishing the race quickly.

Unfortunately, too much of

the game is locked away. Play-
ers will have to earn three cars
just to begin the first chapter,
and you can only play a quick
race against friends on tracks
unlocked in the single-player
mode. And the online compo-
nent only consists of playing
against other fans via ghost
cars. But MSR does a brilliant
job of slowly ramping up the
difficulty, so even novices can

enjoy all
it has to offer— and it
offers a lot. Amazing realism,
an ingenious points system,
and good old fashioned fun
adds up to one of the best
games we have played on the
DC all year, jim preston

p— ^Officialil'Magazine .

Dreamcast,

PUBLISHER SEGA DEVELOPER BIZARRE CRE-
ATIONS GENRE RACING ORIGIN UK PLAYERS 1-2
ONLINE YES ESRB E PRICE $44.99

Graphics 9

Stunning recreation of real cities and cars

Sound 10

Awesome mix of rock, dance, country and p

310

Control 8

Mastering a kudos-earning slide can be tough

iBtstefcEia-l 1113

Gameplay 10

Cool points system, lots of options, tons o' fun

Score: 9

Buzz Lightyear

of Star Command

Buzz just can't stick the dismount

v any resemblance

J A v between the Buzz
Lightyear of Buzz
Lightyear of Star Command
and the Buzz Lightyear from
Disney’s excellent animated
Toy Story films is purely physi-
cal. Activision has taken the
popular space hero, stolen his
soul and wit, and jammed his
likeness onto a 3D action plat-
former that’s much like Toy
Story , sans toys. And it’s pretty
much sans story, too, if by
‘story’ you mean something
you’re actually interested in
finding out more about.

As the star of the cel-
shaded Buzz Lightyear of
Star Command, the iron-
jawed Lightyear must race
through a series of alien
worlds collecting vile, law-
flouting no-goodniks. A polite
sort of spacecop, our hero
will actually chase his foes to
their get-away destination
before extending (by which
we mean zapping them until
they collapse) his long, lawful
arm. Gameplay takes place
over 14 missions and nine
worlds, some of which require
multiple visits— giving new
meaning to been there
and done that.

A thinner-than-a-postcard
plot is strung together by
snippets from the Buzz
Lightyear of Star Command
cartoon. Each level presents
an animated supervillain to
bust and a time limit to beat;
if Lightyear doesn’t reach the
course’s end in the allotted
span, it’s game over, baby.

The emphasis shifts, then,
from exploration and puzzle-
solving to flat-out sprinting
and blasting, with no time to
stop and enjoy the scenery.
And since scenery is so
staggeringly unimpressive,
this constraint is a blessing.
It’s just about the only time
this game is going to let you off
easy, so you’d better enjoy it.

Lightyear can collect credits

in gameplay and then use
his loot to “buy" weapon
powerups, shields, jet packs,
hoverboards, flying bikes,
and the like. A neat idea-
martyred by poor execution,
in that (in a nutshell) what-
ever item you’re buying is
represented by an icon
encased in a bubble that’s
imprinted with big fat num-
bers, which cover the icon
inside completely— so you’re
never exactly sure of what
you’re buying until you’ve
bought it. Hope you like sur-
prises. Bonus levels=more
sprinting and item collec-
tion. ..the story begins to read
like a dyslexic’s master’s
thesis. Infinity has never
seemed so close (and yet so
far). Recommended only for
guppies or the very young.

GREG ORLANDO

»— ^OfficialS'Magazine j

Dreamcast

PUB ACTIVISION DEV TRAVELLER'S TALES
GENRE ACTION/ADVENTURE ORIGIN UK
PLAYERS 1 VMU COUNT 2 ONLINE NO ESRB E
PRICE $39.99

Score: 5

.rirpamnastmagazinscom

Holiday 2000 Official @ Dreamcast Magaz i n e 85

TESfZONE

In-Depth Reviews

“Sega Marine Fishing: Best of all, these monsters really fight!” eric bratcher

GOTTA CATCH A COELACANTH

THE COELACANTH WAS thought to have died out at the
end of the Cretaceous Era, 65 million years ago, until a
fisherman caught one off the tip of South Africa in 1938.
It was five feet long, weighed 1 26 pounds, had bulging
blue eyes and tasted horrible. Turns out, the coelacanth's
nasty flavor was the reason why scientists had thought
it was extinct: fishermen just left it alone when they saw
it. And now, it's one of the star catches of SMF.

GIANT TREVALLY

In this eleventh hour of deadline madness, we’d really Rather Be
Fishing. We’d even bait our own hooks, dammit.

Marine Fishing

Screw those guppies in freshwater. Baby, we’re going after Jaws.

Want to test the waters
in Sega Marine Fishing?
It's an exclusive on this
month's ODCM Demo
Disc. Check out the Disc
Guide on page 6 (or
disc packaging) for
more details.

a omebody at Sega

knows fishing. First they
churn out 1999’s Sega
Bass Fishing, a game that, while
a bit shallow (ha, ha), perfectly
captured the near-therapeutic
feel of freshwater bass angling.
Now they’ve thrown Sega Marine
Fishing into the water, an arcade-
style fishfest that perfectly captures
the saltier, more adrenalized,
man-versus-Moby Dick action
that is ocean fishing. Get the
Dramamine. We’re heading out.

While the first game focused
on the admittedly tasty Large-
mouth Bass, the five fishable
areas in Sega Marine Fishing
boast all manner of hook-able
sea life, including bluefin tuna,
barracuda, stingray, sailfin —
even sharks. Best of all, these

monsters fight. You think landing
a 15-pound bass was too easy?
Try dragging a 220-pound Short-
fin Mako on board. Then maybe
you’ll be macho enough to get
that anchor tattooed on your
chest (Fran has repeatedly
turned down this honor).

This actually leads to one
of our only complaints— it really
sucks that you can’t adjust
your pole’s drag or earn stronger
fishing line, as bigger fish (partic-
ularly the sailfin) can snap your
line a bit too easily just by turning
on the afterburners. Players
who’re uninterested in a greater
challenge (or who are too cheap
to shell out for Sega’s to-die-for
fishing controller) will find the big
boys much easier to reel in using
a standard controller.

There are game modes

a-plenty. Arcade mode is fully
intact, with newly adjustable
difficulty, and five mini-games
enable you to practice techniques
like casting and lure action. Then
comes the self-explanatory Free

A reel big fish story

FISH AIN'T HELPLESS. Consider
the story of Jose Rojas Mayarita,
a 39 year-old fisherman who
was speared by a 10 foot-long
marlin. Once hooked, it leaped
into his boat and drove its
'enhanced' nose directly through
the poor guy's abdomen. Jose
then drifted for two days before
being rescued by a passing ves-
sel. Kids, regard this as a lesson:
fish play for keeps.

. 8 . 6 . Official # D reamcast Magazine Holiday 2Q QQ

Fishing mode. Success in these
exercises will unlock bonus
items, many of which are then
displayed in Aquarium mode...
which is literally a gigantic aquar-
ium. There are over 260 bonus
items, including fish, aquarium
decorations, new lures, clothes,
different music, and even a
dog (every game could use a
bit with a dog).

Here’s the only problem: this
good stuff replaces the first
game’s tournament-style Original
mode. Earning new items is fun,
but it doesn’t assuage that com-
petitive urge. Thus, the game’s
arcade roots are severely exposed,
and although Sega plans to offer
limited online support for the game
(items can be downloaded; you
can enter catches in month-long

competitions), its ultimate
longevity suffers accordingly.

ERIC BRATCHER

■— ^Offcial@Magazine t

Dreamcast

PUB SEGA DEV WOW GENRE FISHING ORIGIN
JAPAN PLAYERS 1 ONLINE YES PERIPHS JUMP
PACK. FISHING REEL ESRB E PRICE $39.99

Graphics 8

It’s not quite Ecco, but it's still damn pretty

I I I I I I I I l~l I

Sound 6

Good music, bad splashes and reel sounds

Control 8

Easier with the pad, but realistic with the pole.

Gameplay 8

Incredibly fun. but smelly in the long run.

www.DailyRadai

In-Depth Reviews

All the classic
characters are present
and accounted for In
Infogrames' shockingly
good licensed kart racer.
Real voices back up
every anvil-dropping
moment of every race,
so do yourself a favor
and check It out.

With Its super savvy presentation and authentic visual feel, Looney Tunes will
have you getting in touch with your inner Saturday morning cartoon child fast.

stuns world in good game shocker!

NewsFlash: Licensed cart racer

llow us to be frank for

a moment: When a new
kart racing game rolls
into the office— especially one of
the cutesy-licensed persuasion—
we tend to hide under our desks
and go into uncontrollable,
Exorcist-style spasms. These are
the most derivative games in the
world, right? But not this time.

In racing terms with which we
can all identify, Space Race is
like a cross between two of the
genre’s finest— namely, Mario
Kart and WipEout. Vehicles are of
the hovercraft(ian) variety, and
courses are filled with steep
inclines, huge jumps and mam-
moth, elevated arching turns—
all distinctly reminiscent of
Psycnosis' classic. These tracks
are littered with an assortment of

weapons, ranging from spring-
action boxing gloves to falling
anvil remote controls, which
provide something to do while
speeding around the track.

One aspect of Space Race

which may bother some gamers
is its built-in equalizer. Due to an
especially hefty helping of ‘com-
puter assitance’, every racer is

always within striking distance of
his or her opponents, which
allows for extremely tight races
on almost every run. While this
certainly keeps things interest-
ing, it also induces a great deal
of frustration: Race a perfect lap
and everybody’s right on your
tail; fall off of the track five times
and you’re still in the thick of it.
This fortuitousness may frustrate.

Graphically, the game uses a

clever derivative of the cel-shaded
technique popularized by Jet
Grind Radio. The illustration, ani-
mation and pastel color palette
come together to create what is
literally a perfect match for the
real thing— frame-for-frame, this
is classic Chuck Jones, Hanna-
Barbera goodness. The interface
is polished, and the loading
screens look like wonderful ani-
mation cells (although they do
remain onscreen a bit too long).

Space Race is irresistably
addictive, and the nostalgia it
induces makes us grin like the
idiots we are. Numerous extras
and special challenges give the
game plenty of replay value, and
the split-screen, four-way racing
is hella fun. Melbourne House

gets kudos for making this game
a thousand times better than it
should have been, evan shamoon

PUBLISHER INFOGRAMES DEVELOPER MEL-
BOURNE HOUSE GENRE RACING ORIGIN US
PLAYERS 1 -4 ONLINE NO ESRB E

Graphics 8

Wonderful '50s-style cel shading

Sound 8

Great Looney Tunes samples.. .we wanted more

Control 8

Near perfect; we don't like falling off the track

Gameplay 8

Very fun, but very frustrating at times.

Score: 8

What's Down Under, Doc?

From the land that brought us Yahoo
Serious, the Crocodile Hunter (and
Crocodile Dundee ) and vegemite
sandwiches comes developer
Melbourne House and two rather
stellar games: Test Drive Le Mans and
Looney Tunes: Space Race . One of
Infogrames' latest acquisitions, MH's
potential is pretty stellar if these two
games are any measure of it. We can't
wait to see what else they cook up.

★

Holiday 2000 Official Dreamrast Magazine 87

As if to make for the untimely
demise of SNK in the US,
Capcom has come out
swinging with the ultimate
crossover dream for
fighitn’ fans.

.PK &SSaSitiH RiMBU-KTONi

In-Depth Reviews

“The fighting interface is very basic, even a step back from Alpha 3." chet barber

t « J .llll«fTO

Capcom vs. SNK

It’s the Mets vs. Yankees all over again, only without the hot dogs

over the idea of pitting their
favorites from both publishers
against each other. But, next
time, we’re hoping to see some
radical innovation, chet barber

Fight to the Top

AT THE START OF Capcom vs.
SNK, characters are lined up in
three tiers for your perusal —
with strong fighters on the
bottom, and weak ones on top.
The tier that you select your
first fighter from will determine
(and limit) your options for
further selections. Cool idea.

PUB/DEV CAPCOM GENRE FIGHTING ORIGIN
JAPAN PLAYERS 1 -2 PERIPH ARCADE STICK
ONLINE NO ESRBTEEN PRICE $39.99

GRAPHICS 7

Hand-drawn art; characters ai

sound 7

Good soundtrack with loads of ni

CONTROL 6

Simple layout, clever stages, a bit too shallow

GAMEPLAY 7

Too pared down in terms of moves and depth

Score: 7

U he ultimate fighting

game that all hardcore
fans of Capcom and
SNK have prayed for is here. And
everything that has always made
Capcom’s fighters so
successful-great control, pretty
graphics, personality, and
combo-tasticness— has
been used to its best
advantage. Sort of.

Characters come equipped

with an average amount of
moves, a couple of supers, and
a decent number of combos.
However, Capcom has further
enhanced gameplay with a few
minor innovative features. First,
players can choose between a
SNK or Capcom style super;

SNK supers are powered up by
holding down three buttons.
Second, character teams are

constructed in a very unique
manner. Characters are divided
into three tiers: bosses, strong
characters and weak characters.
If players choose a boss, then
they must also pick a weak
character. If you go with a fair to
middling character, then you can
either add one more average
character or two more weak
ones. This system promotes
unique fighting strategies
without sacrificing the game’s
overall balance. Although it’s not
perfect, the idea is interesting
and it would be cool if it was
taken even a little further.

Unfortunately, these are

pretty much the only shiny bits.
The fighting interface is very
basic, a step back from even
Alpha 3. There aren’t any
countermoves; combos, while

present, seem to consist mostly
of simple two-in-ones; air block-
ing and air throws are gone.

Also, the SNK characters
have been simplified— their
moves list has been reduced
and their chain combos are
missing. Since the fighting sys-
tem is a bit shallow, if you don’t

Team Match-ups

If you look in the top corners of
your screen, you'll note that
matches can have three players
against two, or even four
against two. Balance them well.

have a friend to play with, you
may get bored too quickly.

One cure for boredom is a

great storyline. But unfortunately,
this game says, “Nah. Be a man.
Boredom makes you stronger.”
Even some attempt at a cohesive
story would have been nice;
Capcom could’ve created a plot
based on several teams, like in
the KOF series. But no.

On the cool side, stuff like a
secrets purchasing system,
similar to the one in Marvel vs
Capcom 2, have apparently
been added to make up the dif-
ference. You’ll love being able to
buy everything from extra stages
to secret characters— as long as
your interest is still being held.

Within it’s own limits, Capcom
Vs. SNK is a solid title. There are
plenty of fans who’ll surely drool

88 Official t® 1 Preamrast Maga7inp

Holiday POOD

www.DailyRadar.com

‘Score: 9 out of 10 -

For a truly realistic martial arts
game, this one’s a knockout.”

- ODM

“5 out of 5 stars - Revolutionary!

Next Generation

DC UFC Ranked #1 Title at Launch

- NPD TRST Weekly Data

Crave scores a knock-out: ‘Direct Hit’ Rating

Easily the most realistic, and definitely one of the
most fun fighting games to ever come along.”

- DailyRadar.com

UFC is a great game that could easily stand on it’s
own merits without this fantastic license.”

- Game Fan

UFC is poised to set the next standard in the fighting genre

- GamePro

- - - r -

1 ' I jR I s

'90 out of 100: The best American-published "The ebb and flow of ground grappling makes for something

fighting game in years." - Game Fan like a brutal chess match..." -DailyRadar.com

"We might be looking at Fighting Game of

the Year here." - Gamelndustry.com

Dreamcast.

www.seg.com

I CTIil * lilTIYlTEB 4Tlil
www.cravegames.com

C 2000 Clove Fillet minnieni.lm. Allrightstesefved. Ultimate Fighting Chompiondtip and the Ultimate Fiyltling Oiampionshiplogo ui eeilher tf ademarksui legisleied tiademai ksof Semcphof eenteitaiiinient Group in the U.S. andother countries. Used under I uensefiom SEG Spoits Corp. Ciave EnteilainmenUheCiaveEnleftoinment
logo and Fight Like A Man ai eeilht'i li ademai ks 01 1 eipslei edliodetiioiksol (rove Entertainment, lot. in the U.S. and othei counifies. Sega, Dieaimust undthe fteomcast logo are eithei tegistaed trademarksoi tiademai ks cl Sega Enterprises, Lid. Licensed by Nintendo. Nintendo, Game Boy Coloi ond the Official Seal otetr ademarks o(
Nintendo of America, Inc. >- 1989. 1998 Ninteiidoof Amenta. Inc. All other trodenuiiksundcopyiic^tsuielhepfopeMy of theii respeetiveholdefi

TESTZONE

In-Depth Reviews

Yeah, S tarLancer really does look that good. StarLancer is one of the finest PC ports we have ever seen— by far.

Playing StarLancer is just about the closest we’ve ever come to piloting an
X-wing fighter and saving the universe from the evil empire. Aside from that time
that Fran hijacked an X-wing fighter and saved the universe from the evil empire.

Like so many enemies on the wrong end of a laser gun, this game is blowin' up!

s you jump into hyper

space on your way back
to mission control,
after one of the most intense
dogfights of your young career,
you can’t help but feel a little
embarrassed about letting
out an emphatic “yeeeeehaw!”
as you wave bye-bye to the
wreckage of countless foes and
anything else that’s slower than
the speed of light. But ease up,
rookie. If you’re going to stick
with the Fighting 45th division
in one of the most turbulent
wars ever waged in the known
universe, you’re going have to
do much more than yell.

After stumbling onto a stage

that’s as inviting as the one set
above, one would hope that
Crave was as wise in their
Dreamcast translation as they
were in the acquisition of

Digital Anvil’s highly under-
appreciated shooter, StarLancer.
As we have all (sadly) witnessed
in the past, many things can go
wrong when a game makes the
transition from PC to Sega’s
little white box, and with a
visually loaded, input-heavy title
like this— which also features
online play— you’d be crazy not
to be a little skeptical as to
whether or not Warthog could
make it happen.

Well, ODCM has hopped

behind the cockpit. And from
where we’re sitting, Crave has
not only managed to move up
the ranks in the Sega army, but
has singlehandedly raised the
bar for console space shooters
on the whole.

What a show. For just a few

minutes, try to forget that the

game is absolutely gorgeous.
Never mind that the presentation
is incredibly engrossing. And try
really hard to put it out of your
head that this game controls like
a dream. What will really knock

you for a loop is that the game
does all of these things in a
convincingly brilliant fashion
AND it does them online!

Pretty incredible, eh? Now,
forget we told you to forget all

of those things, and let’s talk
about the game’s look. If you
thought Psygnosis made a name
for itself during the early years of
that ‘other console’s’ lifecycle
with a flashy shooter called Colony

SUPPORTING UP TO SIX ACE
starfighters, StarLancer doesn't
play around when it comes to
Internet action. Not really feeling
like a standard dogfight? How
'bout a blast session in a crowded
asteroid field? Or maybe a little
game of Nuclear Threat, where any
pilot can trigger a blast that will
destroy every other ship? Or per-
haps a little Hunt the Shadow —
a cloaked version of "tag" where
missiles are your high tech slap on
the back. Just naming a few games
here, folks. StarLancer has plenty
more where that came from.

A no frills arena set in a dense pocket of

Game Name

UNNAMEDOI

asteroids, the only rule is survival of the

Callsign

PLAYERI

fittest.

Ship

PREOATOR

Game Type

Asteroid Arena

Turrets ◄

Off

Targeting

Teamplay

Off

Piayers Ping Players Ping

Chat

Start Game

When OK. turrets will fire on the players

90 Official# Drpamrast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.DailvRadar.com

"With StarLancer, Crave has singlehandedly raised the bar for console space shooters at large.”

BRANDON JUSTICE

As the saying goes, In space,
no one can hear you scream.
Apparently, no one in space can
take a decent screenshot either,
as the black, starry skies of outer
space do look amazing onscreen
but turn out to be quite boring on
the printed page. So don’t be
fooled. StarLancer is actually a
great-looking game— whether you’re
cruising through empty hangars to
dodging lasers near a flaming sun,
you can see that a lot of thought and
time went into the DC conversion.

Rank Has Its Privileges

SEE THAT SHIP, RECRUIT? Well,
don't stare too long, because you
won't see the cockpit of a vessel
like that until you've logged some
serious hours in the line of duty.
As you progress through the game,
you can earn better ships by
moving up in the ranks via
proving your worth to the
Alliance in battle. Fail to perform,
however, and watch the game
take one of its many paths to
your dismissal, i.e., doom.

Wars, just wait till you see
StarLancer in motion. Sporting
a sturdy 30fps framerate,
incredible models and lighting
effects, and texture work that

occasionally eclipses even its
comparably more powerful PC
forefathers, and what you’ve
got here is a game that will
really knock your socks off.

While it’s all well and good

that your ship looks nice, I’m
sure you’re wondering how it
handles. Well, for a game that
had to drop down from a key-
board to the Dreamcast’s
eleven total buttons, we’re in
shock that we can still barrel
roll, lock-on, and reverse
thrusters with the best of
’em. StarLancer controls like
a dream, and when you launch
your countermeasures, slam
the breaks and blow that bogey
into kingdom come, be sure
to salute the crew at Warthog
for making it all possible,
because this is definitely no
small accomplishment.

www.dreamcastmagazine.CQm

But even more impressive is

the fact that StarLancer
will undoubtedly become a
showpiece for Sega Net faster
than you can unleash a
Panther missile on a locked
target, thanks to the game’s
phenomenal set of Internet
options. Not only is this the first
online title that will offer support
for up to six pilots (two more
than the PC version, for those
of you who are keeping score),
but it does so in a wide variety
of creative team and free-for-all
modes. The underestimated
power of the Dreamcast’s 56k
connection shines through
once again, as play is extremely
smooth. And thanks to tons
of game types, this title could
very well give even Quake 3
Arena a run for its money
in the replay value department.
Now, that would be something.

One edge that this shooter has

over id’s fps masterpiece and
other titles in the space shooter
niche is that the single-player
experience is an equally
compelling black hole of
productivity from nearly every
angle. Challenging, tense
missions, over 6,000 lines
of commentary from both
friends and foes, and cool
briefings will pull you through
the kind of sci-fi plot that would
make any Trekkie melt.

It’s just the kind of experience

that makes you thrilled to own a
Dreamcast. If you’re wondering
why console shooters can’t be
as good as Wing Commander
was on your PC, then prepare to
swap out such notions with
questions as to why more
games like StarLancer don’t
come our way. Between

excellent single-player action
and the most robust online mul-
tiplayer experience we’ve seen
on the system to date, picking
this one up is a no-brainer.

BRANDON JUSTICE

w— ■^Officialfi^Magazine .

Dreamcast.

PUB CRAVE DEV DIGITAL ANVIL/WARTHOG
GENRE SPACE SHOOTER ORIGIN US PLAYERS 1-8

ONLINE HELL, YEAH ESRB T PRICE $49.99

Graphics 8

Some sluggish moments, but still striking

Sound 9

“I will be aveng...ARRRGHH!"

i i i i i i i i i i i

Control 9

How did they do it? Controls like a dream!

Gameplay 9

Challenging, deep, and addictive

Score: 9

Holiday 2000 Official Dreamcast Magazine 91

1ESTZ0NE

In-Depth Reviews

“When playing Samba, gamers look way cooler than doctors or lawyers.” blake fischer

[NORMAL*

IwjDjvg

mode, there is a challenge mode
in which you compete in ever
more difficult fracases to unlock
more songs (there are only six
initially). And if this still isn't
enough music to float your boat,
an Internet mode enables you to
download even more songs.

Shake your
money maker!

WITH ONLY 10,000 MAR AC AS on
the market, gamers may be hard
pressed to find a pair to shake
with any of the 50,000 copies of
Samba being released. But
maraca-less amigos should
fear not; after playtesting
the game with the ^ ^

controller, we

conclude that . « ^ ^ r

the controller ^

may not be as ► ^ A

cool, but it's

still good. f

Sonic Team couldn t
be further from
Sonic, but they still
manage to hit the
mark with one of the
freshest, funniest
DC games yet.

VAITIN6 FOR 2P S ENTRY

...

mmm\ Smmmmmmm

The cut-scenes
are executed
seamlessly using
the in-game
engine. The story
isn’t half-bad,
either.

Samba de Amigo

Two men. Four maracas. One legendary game

a amba de Amigo is

unique. While it’s easy
to quantify the game-
play, the game experience itself
almost defies description. It boils
down to this: one or two guys
standing on a rubber mat and
shaking a pair of maracas at an
animated monkey on TV. While
it sounds rather strange (and
honestly, it looks that way too),
Samba de Amigo is one of the
freshest game experiences you’ll
find on your Dreamcast this
winter— and it’s certainly one
of the most fun.

A great big key to this game’s

ultimate success is its very low
barrier of entry combined with
its substantial amount of game-
play depth. The maracas are a
great equalizer, and everybody

(yes, even you) can figure out
how to use them in just a minute
or two. All you have to do is
synch up your rattling with
both musical and onscreen
cues: shaking to the right or
left at the up, middle or down
positions in time with some
little blue dots on the screen
(for all practical purposes, ignore
the monkey— he’s really just
psychedelic window dressing).

Now, once you’ve caught the
Samba bug (which usually hap-
pens after only one game), you’ll
no doubt want to see all it’s got
to offer. And surprisingly, despite
the simplicity of the premise,
there’s quite a lot there. Besides
an arcade mode, an original
mode (the difference being in
the amount of songs you have
available to select) and a versus

This is one of those rare games

that’s very nearly as much fun to
watch as it is to play. When the
game is set up in the office, ^
not only do gamers get S(
involved, but everybody that
passes by stops to watch and
usually takes a turn. Samba is
also (clearly) the ultimate party
game-enabling you to prove not
only that videogames are awe-
some, but that gamers (thanks
to practice) look way cooler than
stock brokers, doctors and
lawyers do when they’re shaking
maracas in time with Chumba-
wumba’s “Tub Thumping.”

If you’re still skeptical after
reading this review, we recom-
mend that you try the game
yourself. We’ll save you a seat
on the bandwagon.

BLAKE FISCHER

rUBLOHCK OCOM UEVELUrCK 3UIVIL 1 CMm

GENRE HMM... ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS 1 -2 ONLINE
NO ESRB E PRICE $44.99: WITHOUT MARACAS

Graphics 9

It's an easy trip with a cheeky monkey

Sound 9

Music is more infectious than that good of Ebola

i i i i i i i i i i i

Control 10

Maracas! Maracas! Maracas!

Gameplay 9

It's unique: as addictive as

Score; 9

92 Official m Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.DailyRadar.CQi

Score: 7

Visually, Red Dog
reminded us of

Dreamcast classic

/VTDK2— which is high
praise, indeed. Crazy,
otherworldly landscapes
and insanely cool visual
effects make this game
far prettier than your
average mutt.

premise. Still, while it
may not live up to the
promise of its pieces, it’s by no
means a dud. dave chen

PUBLISHER CRAVE DEVELOPER ARGONAUT
GENRE SHOOTER ORIGIN UK PLAYERS 1
ONLINE NO ESRBT PRICE $29.99

Graphics 8

Looks great with some sweet effects

Sound 5

Cool Japanese heavy metal, if you're into that

Control 7

Integrated puzzles, simplified, responsive controls

Gameplay 6

Problematic at best, camera problems, no analog

ProTip: Attempt to shoot the bad guys who are firing
heat-seeking missiles directly at your tank.

Red Dog

Give that puppy a bone: but does it have the High Pro glow?

lire really wanted to love

liJ this Dog. Really. You
■■F slide into the driver’s
seat of an ultra-tough tank
called Red Dog. You roll into
battle against scores of alien
turncoats called the Haak. Your
Dog has plenty of teeth to bare:
a rapid-fire cannon, homing
missiles, a bevy of power-ups,
and a really nifty shield grid
that can be moved around by
using the analog stick. You’ll
cling to rocky terrain, strafe,
and boost along— and for most
gamers (ourselves included),
that’s a pretty solid start. But
Red Dog's bark ultimately
proves to be bigger than it’s
bite, if only by a narrow margin.

While this game won’t win
any awards for groundbreaking
design, the graphics are crisp

and stylish, with a smooth
framerate and nice, understat-
ed (for a futuristic tank game)
explosions and effects. Levels
are enormous, featuring lots of
convincing tunnels and caverns
intertwined with cool sci-fi
hangers and craggy outdoor
plateaus. Missions are linear
without being repetitious, and
good level design results in min-
imal backtracking. Bosses— cool
and retro-PC stylish in a manner
that reminds us of Descent—
are suitably large and suitably
protected by teeming minions

DOGHOUSE RULES

and massive weaponry.

But while the game is
gorgeous at rest, too many
small glitches make for a hectic
and confusing experience. The
camera is skittish and frequently
confused, and lengthy networks
of underground terrain— with
plenty of rocky outposts— don’t
help. Many of the enemy shock-
troops blend in far too well with
the environment, and they rarely
make a sound— which makes
it easy for them to get the
frustrating drop on you.

Controls, while logical and

Red Dog was also the original name of a banking game. Also known as High Card
Pool, variations included Slippery Sam, Shoot and Polish Red Dog. Players bet that
a card from their hand would be of the same suit and higher ranking than one
drawn from the deck. Today. Red Dog (also known as Ace-Deuce or In Between) is
played with two cards are dealt face up - the player must then bet on whether a
third card will fall between those, http://www.pagat.com/banking/reddog.html.

thorough,
suffer from the
Dreamcast’s limited
D-pad. It’s impossible to
adjust analog sensitivity— and
this is just one of those no-no’s
that developers still don’t seem
to get. It’s not unbearable,
but you’ll wish that you could
concentrate more on the cool
scenery and effects than on
maintaining your bearing.

We got more than we expected

from Red Dog, but it’s a strangely
unfulfilling experience. Considering
some of the game’s finer points,
we wish Crave could have done
a little more with it— the net
result is that this title may end
up appealing more to the casual
gamer than to intrepid players
who were intrigued by its

Holiday 2000 Official # Dreamcast Mag azine 93.

K«I£

' yjjg/f [p? ^

| £■

■

0m/ i

>/ • -,

TESTZDNE

In-Depth Reviews

R />?S T A M A M ENTERED T ME GAMi

Xtreme

Sports

Looks good, huh?
Some of the events
are even pretty fun.
Unfortunately, like
pudding in the sun, it
all somehow fails to
jell, gameplaywise

Je ne sais quoi (that’s French)

a ike bread without

butter, chow fun sans
MSG, or the Miami
Sound Machine without Gloria
Estefan, something is simply
missing from Infogrames’
Xtreme Games (besides the
E). If one looks at the individ-
ual elements here— pretty
graphics, varied styles of
gameplay, an excellent sound-
track and very passable
control— it might seem like an
excellent title. Unfortunately,
that entirely overused adage
about “the whole” and the rel-
ative deficiency of “the sum of
its parts” is all too applicable.

Players compete in six

distinctly different events,
including mountain biking, sky
surfing, ATV riding, hang glid-
ing, snowboarding and bungee
jumping. Each course is laced
with three distinct events, all
of which are strung together in
triathalon-style progression.

On one course, for example,
players head down the slopes
on their snowboard (passing
time checkpoints and pulling
tricks along the way), and then
at the end of the run break
free from their board, strap
into a hang glider, and take off
into the air. When you finally
land the thing, you’re back on
the ground— where you hop
onto your ATV for the final leg
of the course. Only three
courses are available at the

start, but more are unlocked
as you play the game.

Perhaps one of the
problems is that the game
attempts to cover a bit too
much ground, and thereby
spreads itself too thin. The
control is uneven at best, and
it’s far to easy to get hung up
on walls, stuck on hills, etc,
etc. And while the graphics
are quite nice on the whole-
even stunning at times— they
suffer from some ugly polygon
glitching, due mostly to buggy
texture-swapping and environ-
ment warping. The soundtrack
is excellent, fortunately, and
includes exclusively Ninja
Tune cuts, with Amon Tobin,

DJ Food, Mr. Scruff, Cold Cut
and others providing audio
accmopaniment.

Xtreme Sports looks nice,
sounds nice, plays nice— hell,
its packaging even smells
nice— but in the end, the game
can neither climb, skate, bike
or hang glide above the level
of mediocrity. Uneven game-
play and sometimes clunky
control mar what could have
been an ‘xtremely’ solid title.

EVAN SHAMOON

»— ^OffkialS'Magazine t

Dreamcast

PUBLISHER INFOGRAMES DEVELOPER INNER-
LOOP GENRE XTREME SPORTS ORIGIN US
PLAYERS 1-4 VMU COUNT 4 ONUNE NO ESRB E
PRICE $39.99

Score: 5

In order to fully enjoy Quake III:
Arena, ODCM strongly suggests
that gamers run out and purchase
a DC mouse and keyboard. While
the extra hardware will cost you
a few extra bucks, please do
yourselves the favor and take the
plunge. It makes playing the
game an entirely different
experience, and you’ll be able
to use it with plenty of upcoming
titles. Don’t make us have to tell

Quake III: Arena

Directions: Run, Shoot, Kill. Repeat if necessary.

t’s hard not to get

excited about Quake III
for Dreamcast. This is,
after all, arguably the best first-
person shooter of all time, and
it’s also the first to arrive on
Dreamcast. Ported over to the
console by id software’s choice
developer, Raster, it represents
a first for online, console
deathmatch-style warfare. And
despite all the hype that was
generated about Quake III:
Arena for Dreamcast— and
despite all the disappointment
that huge hype normally
breeds— we’re pleased to say
that this game delivers on
nearly everything it promised.

The first thing evident in Qlll
is just how incredible it looks.
Raster has done a spectacular
job with the port, and every-
thing from the sharp character
models to the abundant
special effects wizardry has
been translated with gusto.

Playing the game on a monitor,
one would be seriously hard-
pressed to tell the game from
its PC counterpart. No small
feat, that, especially when one
considers the price difference
between a Dreamcast and a
comparable 3D-accelerated PC
{read: $150 vs $1500).

In single-player mode,
gamers choose between
five difficulty levels, and must
battle in a series of arenas
against single and multiple
opponents who get increas-
ingly more difficult as the
player progresses.

It’s inevitable that you’ll
tire of playing against bots,
however, when the temptation
of fragging living, breathing
opponents from all over the
world is but a click away. Let’s
not kid ourselves, folks: while
it has received wide acclaim
for its innovative engine and
its breakneck pace, you don’t

play Quake to hear stories and
make believe— you play to frag
your friends.

And so it was with some

apprehension that we first went
online with Qlll. We knew that
the online play might make or
break the game and, being fans
of the genre, we really wanted
this one to shine. We were able
to go from a cold Dreamcast to
the bullet-riddled arenas of Qlll
in less than three minutes, and
with over 500 Qlll servers on
Sega Net, there’s no lack of
competition. So how was it?
Bloody great.

Most significantly, Qlll
delivers the intense action
that has addicted an entire
population of gamers. Those
well-versed in first-person
shooters will testify that step-
ping into a Quake arena is to
step into the most intense,
fast-paced deathmatches in

96 Official # Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.DailyRadar.com

all of gaming. And armed with
a mouse and keyboard, con-
sole owners can officially now
see what all the fuss is about.
We can honestly say that
playing multiplayer Qlll on
Dreamcast is one of the most
intense, addictive and exhila-
rating experiences one can
have on a videogame console.

Which is not to say that
things are all sunshine and ice
cream. Aside from the fact that
online arenas are limited to four
players, the biggest fault of Qlll
Dreamcast actually has little to
do with the game itself, but
rather with the somewhat
unpredictable performance of
SegaNet. Bullets and rockets
can sometimes fly out of the
end of your weapon long after
you pull the trigger (and long

after your enemy has vacated
that exact location). While some
servers are better than others,
those conditioned to playing
Quake over all connection will
notice the lag. For those who
have never had the opportunity
to play multiplayer deathmatch,
however, this is simply the
bomb. (Note: we had not yet
received an ethernet adapter at
press time— it might make all of
this lag business moot).

Despite the lag, Quake III:

Arena for Dreamcast is still a
tremendous achievement— and
more importantly, it’s fun as
hell. Being able to reach out
and touch someone from
across the country with a shot-
gun blast is a beautiful thing,
and now— finally— console

owners are able to join the
fray. Once more unto the
breach, dear friends. You
won’t be sorry, evan shamoon

■— •vOlficial'J'Magazine <

Dreamcast

PUB SEGA DEV RASTER GENRE FIRST-PERSON
SHOOTER ORIG US PLAYERS 1-4 ONLINE YES
1 M PRICE $49.00

Graphics 9

Impeccably translated. Well done.Raster.

Sound 8

High-quality, frenetic effects. Wanky music.

i i i i i i i i i n — i

Control 9

Mouse & keyboard=only way to play. Get yours.

Gameplay 9

Lag, schmag. Multiplayer gaming has arrived.

Score: 9

| m ^ acing games need a

I l m story about as much

LLJ as a hedgehog needs
a bicycle, but Pod: Speedzone
has got one, anyway— some-
thing about viruses, a mining
colony and mutant cars.
Doesn’t make a lot of sense—
but it’s clear that about as
much inspiration went into
that plot as it did into the game.

It’s not as if Pod: Speed-
zone does anything wrong ;
it just doesn't do anything
particularly right either. As in
most arcade racers, you choose
from a handful of cars, a few
of which have to be unlocked.
You then select your course
and game mode. The problem
with Pod is that there isn’t a
whole lot to choose from. The
cars are all blandly the same,
and the tracks are colorful but
rather unimaginative.

Unlike games like Hydro

Thunder, for instance, where
we were constantly surprised
by little touches like killer
whales or secret volcanoes,
the maps and details in Pod
are positively boring. There’ re
a few brief jumps and some
hidden short cuts, but once
you’ve found them all the thrill
of racing wears thin. And the
mediocre graphics won’t hold
your attention for long either.

Arcade mode features a
small amount of vehicle com-
bat. But again, there’s little

that’s innovative. In addition to
the shields and nitro-boosts,
you can also grab super-
boosts, mines, and a wave
attack that slows opponents.
With only five power-ups,
though, combat isn’t much
more fun than the racing.

The ghost mode pits you

against a ghost car that repre-
sents either your best lap on a
track. Two players can compete
via split screen. But the
strongest feature in Pod is the
online play that allows you to
race against other players with-
out the hassle of a split screen.
The addition of a thriller mode
adds some variety by slowly
draining the shield of the car in
last place, but the excitement
of online play can only redeem
an otherwise ho-hum affair so
much.

JIM PRESTON

Want to test the
waters in POD:
Speedzone? It's an
exclusive on this
month’s ODCM
Demo Disc. Check
out the Disc Guide
on page 6 for more
details.

»— i ^Oflkial@M.Tgazine <

Dreamcast

PUBLISHER UBI SOFT DEVELOPER U8I SOFT
GENRE RACING ORIGIN FRANCE PLAYERS 1-2
VMU COUNT 4 ONUNE YES ESRB E
PRICE $39.99

Score: 5

Forget Perfect Dark. Quake III: Arena has 2-4 player split-screen mode as well. While not nearly as fun as
playing online multiplayer, it provides the best split-screen action ever for those without access to the Internet.

POD: Speedzone

Ho-humming down the road

It ain’t awful, it's Just so...first-generation Dreamcast. If this had come
out last year it would be have been okay, but now it’s just so-so.

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

Holiday 2000 Official # Dreamcast Magazine 97

Da details

Sometimes it's the details that put a
game over the top, and here's a good
example from Le Mans. At one point we
kept hearing multiple engine noises,
even when we were alone on the track.
"That blows!" we thought. It was always
at one point in the track, but inconsis-
tant. Then it hit us: when we went under
an overpass, we could actually hear (but
not see, of course) the engine noises of
the cars that happened to be above us.
Now, that's attention to detail.

1 c^il , TTm

Forget every crappy game you’ve seen under the TD franchise. This is the real deal.

here are some classic

games, like Tony Hawk 2,
that you’ll wait for— des-
perately— for months. But once in
a while, a great game sneaks up
on you with no fanfare at all. That’s
Le Mans. The game features the
cars and track from the famous
24-hour long race at Le Mans,
with 40 cars in two classes—

GT (Porches and Vipers) and
prototype (cool-looking super-

cars). You can traverse the
Le Mans track in several time-
compressed versions of the race
(10 and 30 minutes, or one and
six hours), but obviously the real
challenge— and reward— is in
racing through the whole 24
hours (don’t worry, you can save
during pit stops if you don’t have
the hardcore cajones to race the
entire 24 hour race in one
marathon sitting.)

Now, that’s all cool, but there

have been plenty of Le Mans
games in the past. What makes
this one special? Practically
everything. First, there are a huge
number of racing modes: not
only is there the Le Mans track,
but you can race in several
championship series, from
amateur GT all the way up to
prototypes, across ten tracks.

Second, the game is simply

breathta kingly beautiful. Cars are
rendered brilliantly (although the
reflection mapping may be too
reflective for some people), the
tracks are incredibly detailed,
with tons of 3D trackside
features (from grandstands to
houses to cranes) backed by
seamless 2D backdrops. The
result: one of the most consis-
tent and immersive visual effects
we’ve ever seen in a racing game.

The track textures in particular
deserve special mention: they’re
superb, as are the rain and light-
ing effects. And even with 24
cars onscreen at once, there’s
absolutely no slowdown.

The Al is stunning. Unlike the

average, preprogrammed, “drive-
th is-l i ne-perfectly-i n-a-pack-for-
the-entire-race” Al found in most
racing games, the cars in Le

first to the last screens, the lighting effects, and the longer shadows at dusk. Of course, the shadows go the other way at dawn. Not shown (but in the
game) is a nearly full moon. The gradual change is amazing in realtime mode.

98 Official #Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

wwvY.PailyRaclar.c«?m

RECORD 3=30.000
BEST LAP

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FFlP/Tl

§ Jm

v X'

Mans actually act like they have
human drivers. Each car has its
own individual Al, and you’ll
often see two Al cars jockeying
and fighting for position like real
drivers. Al cars also make the
same mistakes you do (going
wide in turns sometimes, etc.),
and have to pit for gas and
tires— so it feels just like you’re
racing against real people (of
ocurse, if you really do want to
race against real people, Le Mans
supports up to four players).

Most important is the racing

itself. If you’ve ever been lucky
enough to take a road
racing class— you know, like a
Skip Barberthing— you know that
when you go around a curve at
high speed, you can feel how
close you are to losing it. Unfor-
tunately, your average “sim"
game gives ahsolutely.no

www.dreamcastmagazim

sense of road feel. One second
you’re turning, the next you’re
spinning out of control. (Gran
Turismo on PlayStation is a
particularly egregious example.)
Le Mans may be the best attempt
ever to deliver that road feel.

Tiny cues— sounds, the back
of your car slipping slightly, a
barely perceptible decrease in
control— let you know just where
the edge is.

And this is where the game
gets really, really good. See, the
location of the edge changes
with every lap. As new tires
warm, they grip better. As they
wear, lap after lap, they grip
worse. And of course, as the
amount of fuel in your car
decreases, your car handles
differently. The changes are
slight and gradual, but it means
that you can’t just find the
perfect line and keep running it.

You need to constantly adjust
how you approach each turn.

It’s subtle, and after a few laps
it’s instinctual— but it always
keeps you on your toes, lap after
lap, hour after hour. If you stop
paying attention, you will screw
up. Add the fact that if you mess
up a turn in Le Mans, with its
8.5 mile track, it’ll be about
three and a half minutes before
you even get to see it again, and
you’ve got a game that simply
does not get boring.

This is crucial. In most racing

games you only race each track
for three or four laps. In Le Mans,
you can race the Championship
tracks for five, ten or more laps
depending on the class, and
of course, you race Le Mans
for hundreds of laps. In your
average racing game, this would
quickly hecome minrt-numbingly_.

boring. But in Le Mans, it always
remains interesting. No matter
how many laps you’ve run,
you’ve still got to think at nearly
every turn. And while the game
isn’t super simmy— you can only
adjust tires and wing position—
it delivers the incredible feel
of being in a big race, where
concentration is constantly
required, and physical exhaustion
could be right around the next
corner. This is one of those
games where you sit down
for a quick race before bed
at 11pm, and when you look
up for the first time the clock
reads 4am.

nothing special. Overall, though,
we’d have to call this game an
absolute triumph— it’s very likely
the best pure racing game
available on Dreamcast.

CHRIS CHARLA

Official® Magazine .

Dreamcast.

PUBLISHER SEGA DEVELOPER BIZARRE CRE-
ATIONS GENRE RACING ORIGIN UK PLAYERS 1-2
ONLINE YES ESRB E PRICE $44.99

Graphics 10

Freaking awesome looking

i i i i i i i i i i i

Sound 8

Good FX, lame techno music

Control 10

The only negative things we

can say about the game is that
there's no online play, we didn’t
like the music very much
(although the sound effects are
tnp-nntr.hl. and the interfac e is

Every racing game should control like this

i i i ■ i i i i i i ■

Gamerlay 9

Awesome tracks, great Al

i — 1 1 i i ~r~i

Score: 9

Holiday 2000 Official Sf Dreamcast Magazine 99,

TESTZONE

In-Depth Reviews

“4X4 really lets you know how it feels to drive one of these rascals.” f

What, no ski rack?

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4x4 Evolution

Lighting effects in this game are
lovely... They’ll draw you in, until you
go flying for half a mile and land
under better control than a 747
piloted by Han Solo himself.

A fun ride, despite a few bumps... It woutda made a

he dreaded compromise.

Without it, things rarely
get accomplished, but
because of it, the end result is
usually a watered-down version
of what-might-have-been. So is
the case with 4X4 Evolution, the
new off-road racing game from
Terminal Reality. Unfortunately,
the decision to go with fully
licensed vehicles came with
the caveat of not being able to
visually represent damage
onscreen. It’s not disastrous to
gameplay, but it forces us to
question the believability of
what we’re experiencing: the
worst thing that can happen
when playing a game.

Up until you get into a bad
fender-bender or a head-on
collision with a track-side
obstacle, 4X4 does a great job

of suspending our disbelief. Pick
a high-tonnage vehicle from one
of the major manufacturers and
take it out for a spin on one of
the 16 nicely rendered tracks...
And for a while, you’ll get to
know what it’s like to cruise
around in one of these off-road
rascals. For the most part, the
physics modeling is superb,
conveying just the right amount
of speed and shock action to

convince you you’re wresting
with the actual vehicle.

Where things start to go off

course is when you catch a lot
of air or run into something.
Landing after a long flight over
the terrain is no more bone-rat-
tling than the effect you get from
hitting a small mogul. Hitting a
large tree or a tiny checkpoint
marker will bring you to the

Online Offroading

THE ULTIMATE ACCESSORY
for racing fans would be a head-to-
head online mode, and 4X4 Evolution 's
got one. Using GameSpy (or SegaNET),
you can race competitively against up
to three other players on Macs, PCs
or fellow DCs. Once you get your 4X4
on the track, solid framerates and
minimal lags ensue. If you play online,
tack another point or so to the score.

nice beer commercial

same abrupt stop. Then there
are large bits of shrubbery which
look like they ought to be a prob-
lem when you run into them, but
turn out to be ethereal...all in all,
the inconsistency of course fea-
tures is very disturbing.

Although damage isn’t
physically shown, the wear and
tear is supposed to have an
effect on your vehicle. If so, it’s
very subtle-after many football-
field-length flights and crash
landings, we noticed very little
change in our vehicles’ handling.

4X4 is a pretty game, with a
good physics model below the
surface and plenty of options to
keep you busy while the artificial
intelligence of the CPU drivers
offers a decent challenge. Sadly,
the lack of damage modeling
and odd object properties may

turn you off. If you can live with
them though, the solid play and
online abilities (see boxout) make
for a good time, rob smolka

PUB GOD DEV TERMINAL REALITY GENRE RACING
PLAYERS 1-4 ORIGIN US PERIPHERALS STEERING
WHEEL ESRB ? ONUNE YES PRICE $49.99

Graphics 7

Smooth framerate, nice textures, pretty ci

Gameplay 5

With online play, it s a shame there's
damage modeling

100 Official (g? 1 Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 20QQ

parody song. His
seminal classic
"Yoda" t.ells the
story of Luke Skywalker's
to Dagobah as sung to the
tune of the Kinks' transsexu:
opus "Lola"— and contains
such epicly comic lines as,

"I met him a swamp clown in
Dagobah, where it bubbles al
the time like a giant carbon-
ated soda." Al also reworked
I Don McLean's sprawling
"American Pie" to include
lyrics topical to The
Menace: (appropriately titled
"The Saga Logins"): it's

Skywalker Raunch

ONE MUST rec-
ognize "Weird"

Al Yankovic as
the master of
the Star Wars

Players of Demolition Racer can
utilize terrains and their various
perils to great effect— on Naboo,
for instance, ships can push huge
statues into a foe’s path in order
to cause him heavy damage. It’s
even possible to recreate Boba
Fett’s grisly death in Return of the
Jedl by luring the bounty hunter
close to the great Sarlacc on the
Tatooine Dune Sea stage.

demolition

The day the demolition derby went to Dagobah

r _ ^ tar Wars car wars

come courtesy of Lux-

oFlux, the maker of the
pretty but flawed Vigilante 8. In
: act, Demolition is Vigilante 8,
warts and all, overlaid with
characters, craft, and locations
: rom George Lucas’ much-loved
series. It’s a county fair smash-
up derby done with the Force,
a strange combination that
almost soars above its failings.

Disregard Demolition’s plot;

the game’s creators needed
ntro text to scroll across the
screen and scraped together
some dreck. The meat here
consists of balls-to-the-wall
shoot-’em-ups on settings
plucked from the four Star Wars
movies. Players can opt to hop
into a X34 Landspeeder (which

never did make it into Toshe
Station in Star Wars ) or onto the
back of a killer Rancor— or even
rocket through the game’s
killing zones with the enigmatic
bounty hunter Boba Fett. The
game affords an excellent selec-
tion of powerful cruising units,
and each one has been tuned
to exhibit unique offensive and
defensive characteristics. Popu-
lar locales have been added to
the mix, further juicing the
recognition factor.

Environments hold much
beauty and plenty of surprises.
The ice-choked Hoth features a
plodding AT-AT tank which will
snipe at any nearby craft, plus a
vicious boulder-hurling Wampa.

Sadly, this game lives and
dies in the manner of Vigilante
8. Four-player fun just doesn’t

stack up against touchy control,
draw-in, and collision problems.
It’s hard to tell the wreckage
from the wonder, greg orlando

PUB ACTIVISION/LUCAS ARTS DEV LUXOFLUX
GENRE VEHICLE COMBAT PLAYERS 1-2 ORIGIN US
ONLINE NO ESRB T PRICE $39.99 VMU PGS 2

Graphics 8

Luxoflux went the extra lightyear: looks pretty.

I I I — I I I l ~l 1

Sound 7

Star Wars music blares throughout

Control 5

Remember how hard it was to control the cars
in Vigilante 8? Well ..

T I I I I ~l — I

Gameplay 6

It's Vigilante 8 with the Force

We want to know the name of this game’s doctor:
we'd like to give him a call If we ever need a facelift.

Frogger 2

Believe it or not, this
resurrected classic has legs.

hey ruined Pong.

They killed Centipede.
We assumed that
the latest remake of Frogger
would be just another attempt
to cash in on a legacy, with
gameplay taking a distant
second place. But, eternal
optimists that we are, we
popped in Frogger 2:

Swampy's Revenge, hoping
and hoping that the hopping
and hopping wouldn’t be quite
as evil this time around.

It was almost like the disc

itself was looking up at us
as we got ready to close
the Dreamcast’s lid, quietly
pleading its case— promising
that the second next-genera-
tion installment of the
not-so-mean green machine
wasn’t so bad, after all. The
odd part is, if that little disc
was talking to us (and it
seemed like it was at the time,
but we’d been drinking a lot of
Mountain Dew), he was right.

The thing is, as much fun as

the arcade classic was in its
prime, there’s only so much
you can do with the format.
Hop. Dodge a vehicle. Hop
some more. And oh yeah, look
out for the crocodile. Been
there, done that, right? Wrong,
folks. Not only does Swampy's
Revenge treat Dreamcast
users to a fast, surprisingly
well-controlled engine, but
incredible level design that
shows some of the best
environments 2.5D
platforming has ever seen.
There’s a lot more to see and

do this go 'round, and it is
evident that a great deal of
time was put into making this
game much more than just a
graphical upgrade. It’s enough
to make the first game green
with envy. (Sorry.)

Granted, one of Frogger 2’ s

biggest problems is that,
despite new obstacles like
crazy giant beetles and evil
lawn mowers, the basic thrust
of the game is still the same:
Hop fast, hop well, and for
heaven’s sake, frog, don’t bite
the big one! If that’s all you’re
expecting, Frogger 2 won’t
let you down, but don’t say
we told you so if the scripted
events and engrossing level
design aren’t enough to hold
your interest.

There’s a good chance that,

even if that occurs, the
game’s four-player mini-games
and unlockable arcade levels
will add some life to things
when they start to get a bit
tired. In the end, Frogger 2
remains one of the year’s
most pleasant surprises, and
is an excellent fit for platform-
ing fans, both young and old.
Just do yourself a favor and
skip the cinemas.

BRANDON JUSTICE

PUBLISHER MAJESCO SALES DEVELOPER HAS-
BRO GENRE ARCADE/ACTION PLAYERS 1 -4
ORIGIN US ONUNE NO ESRB E PRICE $29.99
VMU PGS NA

Score: 7

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

S GREAT. ZO'S OUR PAL _____ _____

ES THE COMPETITION LOVE ZO AS MUCH
AS WE DO? THEY MIGHT IF THEY KNEW WHAT
"ZO" STOOD FOR.

Playstation,!?

' Dreamcast I

Thi; NBA arid individual MBA ri

<1 Sega Enterprises Ltd PlaySlation and the PS’

ntertainment Inc mo ratings icon ic a
Intellectual property ol the MBA Properties
•i ic a registered trademark ot Konarw. Co

INTRODUCING

NBA 2NIGHT

; llllll

OVER 25 DUNKS AND 40 LOW-POST MOVES TO DOMINATE YOUR OPPONENT.
PLUS COMMENTARY BY STUART SCOTT.

1111

espnthegames.com

Making your list? Better check it twice using this comprehensive reference.

TESTZQNEARCH IVE

;amf/piiri i<;hfr

nFRCRIPTIAN R

ATIN

r irsiif

3AMF/PIIRI IRHFR

DESCRIPTION R4TIN

G ISSUE

VIRTUA STRIKER 2 Sega

DC port of popular arcade soccer title that doesn't make it out intact

Issue 5: May/Jun 00

A competent shooter/flight sim that could’ve used a little more decoratio
Airbom shooter a bit too rough around the edges to really shine
A good installation in the long running series that will please fans
Fast-paced shooter that’s fun, but ultimately disposable in that arcade vr

VIRTUA TENNIS Sega

The best tennis game ever! Any questions?

Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00

AIRFORCE DELTA Konami

ARMY MEN: SARGE’S HEROES Midway

CANNON SPIKE Capcom

Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99
Issue 9: December OC
Issue 8: Nov 00

WWF ATTITUDE Acclaim
WORLD SERIES BASEBALL 2K1 Sega
WWF ROYAL RUMBLE THQ

Horrible port of a horrible PlayStation wrestling game-run, don’t walk!
No fielding, poor player controls make this an arcade experiences sham
An arcade-y tribute to the Royal Rumble with limited characters

2
! 4
6

Issue 3: Jan/Feb 00
Issue 8: Nov 00
Issue 8: Nov 00

CRAZY TAXI Sega

Fastpaced arcade objective-based car game; need we say more?

Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00

DEEP FIGHTER UbiSoft
DRACONUS: CULT OFTHE WYRM Crave
DYNAMITE COP Sega
EXPENDABLE Infogrames

Immersive shooter that may be boring to some, but excellent to others
3D hack ’n slash that trips over its own ambitious design
Arcade beat ’em up fun for one round, and then it’s just repetitive
Simple, straightforward shooter fits its title a little too well

Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00
Issue 5: May/Jun 00
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99

4WHER THUNDER Midway
DEMOLITION RACER: NO EXIT Infogrames
DREAM ROADSTERS Titus
EPISODE 1: RACER Lucas Arts

Tough as nails off road type racer with Hydro Thunder sensibilities
A dam good arcade derby racer that encourages vehicular carnage
Bad physics and bland visuals crash this could-be racer prematurely
Racer that uses the force for good and doesn't end up sucking

8
4
7

Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00
Issue 9: December 00
Issue 5: May/Jun 00
Issue 5: May/Jun 00

FUR FIGHTERS Acclaim
GRAND THEFT AUTO 2 Rockstar
GUNDAM SIDE STORY: 0079 Bandai
HIDDEN & DANGEROUS Talonsoft
INCOMING Interplay

Port of a verrrmy mediocre 3D action game, with repetition galore
Stuffed animal shoot ’em up with adventure elements to boot
Death, destruction, mayhem and cars...a treat for delinquents
It’s all about the anime mechs in this 3D first person shooter-fun!

A difficult flawed, but sophisticated strategy shooter with rough edges
Repetitive alien blast-fest in the air and on the ground...yawn

5
7

6
5

Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00
Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00
Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00
Issue 5: May/Jun 00
Issue 8: Nov 00
Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00

FERRARI F355 CHALLENGE Acclaim
FI WORLD GRAND PRIX Sega
FLAG TO FLAG Sega
HYDRO THUNDER Midway
MAGFORCE RACING Crave
MONACO GRAND PRIX UbiSoft

A beautiful, but incredibly tough sim that’s reseived for tough sim nuts
Precision handling and simulation make this an excellent racer
CART Racing done with some good attention to physics and detail
Port of a great arcade water racer that overcomes plain wrapping
Slick looking racer that doesn't handle as well as it looks
It's FI racing for the FI purist; all others need not apply

8
4
4

Issue 9: December 00
Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99
Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99

JET GRIND RADIO Sega

One of the freshest most innovative titles to come out in a long while

srarr

Issue 9: December Of

RE-VOLT Acclaim

Wacky penguin racer too goofy and short for anyone over 10.
Mini RC racer with charm and gameplay for the whole family

Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99
Issue 4: Mar/ Apr 00

SEGA GT Sega

Glorious looking, excellent handling make this a racing sim dream

Issue 8: Nov 00

NIGHTMARE CREATURES 2 Konami

Hyperaction sequel send up of an old favorite with humoi to ^paia
Goth-styled 3D gorefest with violent ghouls and a deranged hero

Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00

SEGA RALLY 2 Sega
SF RUSH 2049 Midway
SOUTH PARK RALLY Acclaim

Great handling rally racer; some difficulty and framerate problems
Perfect arcade translation with loads of extras for Rush fens worldwide
Cartman and gang are back for more mediocre cart racing

Issue 3: Jan/Feb 00

RAINBOW SIX Majesco

Oft-delayed strategy shooter finally emerges sans multiplayer

Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00

SOUL FIGHTER Mindscape
SPAWN: IN THE DEMON’S HAND Capcom
SWORD OFTHE BERZERK Eidos
TOY COMMANDER Sega
VIGILANTE 8: 2ND OFFENSE Activision

3D weapons-based hack ’n slash...the bottom of the DC barrel
Bad mechanics, cameras and a no way to exit menus...sob!

Anime hack ’n slash with pretty intentions but repetitive gameplay
Imaginative 3D romp through childhood. Toys, guns and dinosaurs!
Car combat meant for one, but marketed for multiplayer

8
7

Issue 4: Mar/ Apr 00
Issue 9: December 00
Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00
Issue 3: Jan/Feb 00
Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00

SUZUKI ALSTARE EXTREME RACING UbiSoft
TEST DRIVE 6 Infogrames
TEST DRIVE V-RALLY 2 Infogrames
TNN HARDCORE HEAT ASC Games
TOKYO XTREME RACER Crave

The bane of our existence, reviews-wise. You'll never let us forget it
Deeply flawed arcade motorcycler that ends up being kinda fun
Bad design and an outdated engine do not a good racer make
Brilliant handling and crisp framerate make this rally racer the real thing
Crappy controls and questionable physics dampen its chances.

3
6

4
8
6
6

Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99
Issue 3: Jan/Feb 00
Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00
Issue 8: Nov 00
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99

WILD METAL RockStar Games

Tank shooter with bland graphics, but some intense terrain

Issue 5: May/Jun 00

TRICKSTYLE Acclaim

Smooth, ambitious hoverboard racing fells a little flat in practice

Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99

ZOMBIE REVENGE Sega

Arcade style beat ’em up with zombies and no real depth

Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00

WACKY RACES Infogrames

Cel shading gets wacky in this licensed cart racer with attitude

Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00

CENTIPEDE Hasbro
GAUNTLET LEGENDS Midway

Retro-shooter upgrade to arcade classic not exactly up to par
A great arcade port that only suffers from repetitive nature

Issue 3: Jan/Feb 00
Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00

BLUE STINGER Activision

Survival horror adventure tripped up by voice acting and cameras

Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99

D2Sega

ECCO THE DOLPHIN: DOTF Sega

Wonderfully atmospheric, short, romp through mutated Canadian wildeme
Beautiful, immersive, incredibly tough and unforgiving, for hardcore game

is7

> 8

Issue 8: Nov 00

ARMADA Metro3d

Hybrid shooter/RPG with plenty o’ high points and a big fanbase.

Issue 4: Mar/ Apr 00

l-SPY: OPERATION ESPIONAGE UFO Interactive

Difficult, complex strategy title that’s a little too tough for its own good
Raziel ventures to DC with yummy graphics and tight gameplay
Ambitious 3D adventure hampered by dullness and gameplay problems

An amazing and fitting sequel to the classic survival horror series
Slow, plodding horror adventure with an interesting plot but no pace
Solid, dark, gothic underworid romp as comic anti-hero, Shadowman

Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00
Issue 4: Mar/ Apr 00
Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00

"lssuef:MiPjfjH

Issue 5: May/Jun 00
Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00
Issue 4: Mar/ Apr 00

ELEMENTAL GIMMICK GEARVatical
EVOLUTION UbiSoft

Nice looking, but tough 2D RPG with minimal storyline

Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00

OMIKRON Eidos
RAYMAN 2 UbiSoft

RESIDENT EVIL CODE: VERONICA Capcom
THE RING: TERROR’S REALM Infogrames
SHADOWMAN Acclaim

10
2
7

EVOLUTION 2: FAR OFF PROMISE UbiSoft
SEVENTH CROSS: EVOLUTION UFO Interactive
SILVER Infogrames
TIME STALKERS Sega

?6iftffse(i0giSft7ri^^^ whole jptfriM. / 1 m/t

Wacky breeding sim with simplistic graphics but complex gameplay
Action RPG hijinks ensue after hero's wife gets jacked by evil empire
Rawed time-traveling RPG with good intentions but no follow-through

1: I^ue 6:Juf/Aug 00
Issue 4: Mar/ Apr 00
Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00
Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00

SONIC ADVENTURE Sega

Sonic goes 3D with style and more substance; an instant classic

Issue 1: Sep/Oct 99

BUST-A-MOVE 4 Acclaim
CHUCHU ROCKET Sega

Same game, same maniacal, bubble-busting fun. Perfect for two players
SonicTeam goes cat 'n mouse crazy in Sega's first online endeavor

SUPER MAGNETIC NEO Crave

TOMB RAIDER: THE LAST REVELATION Eidos

Cute platformer with attitude, but a little bland at times
Outdated engine does nothing new on Dreamcast; what a shame

Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00
Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00

Issue 5: May/Jun 00

Crappy cameras make this a title not fit for children, let alone adults

Issue 8: Nov 00

WETRIX+ Xatrix

It’s wet, it's wacky, and it could be fun for two players— but it isn't

Issue 5: May/Jun 00

Complex, strategic 3D fighting with the best looking characters around
Strange anime 2D fighter with nice touches in some odd places

Issue 5: May/Jun 00
Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00

JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE Capcom/Tommo

GIGAWINGTommo

Old-school 2D shooter for diehard fens of the arcade genre

Issue 5: May/Jun 00

KING O' FIGHTERS DREAM MATCH 1999 SNK
MARVEL VS. CAPCOM Capcom
MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 2 Capcom
MK GOLD Midway

Arcade 2D fighter gets the console treatment and comes out kicking
Fastpaced 2D fighter aimed at fans of the genre and characters
Throe-member tag teams done to 2D perfection! Go Capcom!
Uninspiring fighter-by-numbers in the MK franchise

Issue 3: Jan/Feb 00
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99
Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99

GUNBIRD 2 Capcom
HOUSE OFTHE DEAD 2 Sega
SILENT SCOPE Konami

Old-school top down scroller that’s too hard and too short; a bad combo
Lightgun shooter sans lightgun hurts this arcade classic only slightly
Arcade conversion that could’ve used a special peripheral

Issue 8: Nov 00
Issue 1: Sep/Oct 99
Issue 9: December 00

PLASMA SWORD Capcom

A vapid 3D me-too fighter with no real punch but a good lineage

Issue 5: May/Jun 00

AEROWINGS Crave

Right sim gets loopy with cool play, but tough controls and concept
South Park license abused for gameshow aesthetic-boo

Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99
Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00

POWER STONE Capcom

Innovative 3D fighting for anyone willing to take a risk

Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99

POWER STONE 2 Capcom

Brilliant 3D four-player fighting with more depth than the original

Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00

Consbpct a railroad, manege it, in a game that’s addictive, but not onlim
Great looking vehicle for virtual superstar, Ulala...but just too short
Weird, omeiy fishman-raising sim...expect some strange results!

issue 8: Nov 00
SpJe# Sep/Oct 00
Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00

PSYCHIC FORCE 2012 Taito
SOULCAUBUR Namco
STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3 Capcom
STREET FIGHTER III: DBl IMPACT Capcom

Gravity-free 3D aninfo fighter with questionable controls
Glorious weapons fighter done Namco’s usual way: stunningly
Good basic Street Fighter stuff, with or without the online support.

Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99

SPACE CHANNEL 5 Sega
SEAMAN Sega

Great looking, great playing, but missing the classic characters!

SIREET FIGHTER III: 3RD STRIKE Capcom
TECH ROMANCER Capcom

Pure 2D Street Fightin’ bliss with classic and new characters aplenty
Big mechs beat one another up in anime fighter with lots of quirks

Issue 5: May/Jun QO
Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00

ALLOY ARCADE STICK Interact
ARCADE FIGHTER STICK AGETEC

Cool looking chrome arcade stick with eight programmable buttons.
A must for any fighting game fen. Fun with lots of other games, too.

Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00
Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00

UFC Crave

V1RTUA FIGHTER 3TB Sega

VIRTUAL ON: ORATORIO TANGRAM Activision

Strategic, realistic fighting based on the underground phenom, UFC
Yu Suzuki’s arcade fighter comes home with all the gameplay intact
Robo-tastic action with no twin stick support-will you miss it? Maybe.

Issue 8: Nov 00
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99
Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00

CONCEPT 4 WHEEL Interact
DREAM MASTER CONTROLLER Nyko
DREAM PAD Mad Catz

One of the better steering wheel and pedal combos available.
Six-button controller has lots of problems, but the D-pad is good.

Issue 5: May/Jun 00
Issue 5: May/Jun 00

DREAMBLASTER Performance

Solid, precise lightgun with auto-fire and -reload; the best lightgun.

Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00

BASS FISHING Sega
ECW Acclaim

JEREMY MCGRATH SUP'CROSS 2000 Acclaim

Best bass fishing ever! Arcade port is wondrous for fans.

The old WWF engine with some very poor graphics make this a dud
Crap on two-wheels, inconsistent framerate, bad graphics, poor controls.

Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99
Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00
Issue 8: Nov 00

DREAM STATION Ultimate
THE ENFORCER Topmax
ENTERTAINMENT MACHINE Zenith
GAMESHARKCDX Interact
NNOVATION 4 MEGABYTE MEMORY CARD
NTERACTIVE BATTLE CHAIR Hunsuker

Lets you use Sony Dual Shock controllers, and other stuff, on your DC.
Delicous and sturdy lime gree arcade stick, one of the best
This TV is marketed as a gamer’s set, but actually, it’s just a IV.

Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00
Issue 8: Nov 00
Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00
Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00
Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00
Issue 5: May/Jun 00
Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00
Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00

Arcade slam fest for up to four players; fun for four or even one!

Issue 3: Jan/Feb 00

It’s like four memoiy cards in one! This is the one to get for sure.
More butt-rumbling power than you can handle. Pricey but very cool.
Good memoiy card with twice the memoiy! And has tight screws!
Actually sit on your sofa while playing, rather than on the floor.

NBA2KSega

A few bugs stand in the way of this hoop dream come true

Issue 3: Jan/Feb 00

YFL BLITZ 2000 Midway

JUMBO MEMORY PAK X2 Nyko
MAD CATZ EXTENSION CABLE

NR BLITZ 2001 Midway
NR QBC 2000 Acclaim

More over-the-top goodness, but this time brilliant in multiplayer mode

Issue 9: December 00

NR QBC 2001 Acclaim

An acknowledgebly better beast than last year, but still second string

Issue 9: December 0(

NR2KSega

The best football videogaming sim ever to grace the small screen

Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99

PELICAN 4X MEMORY CARD

It's not too reliable. Tends to lose your data. This is bad.

Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00

NFL2K1 SMBHMHI

Okay, this really is the best football videogaming sim to...yadda, yadda...

Issue 9: December Of

PERFORMANCE EXTENSION CABLE

Urn... see the above note on the Mad Catz cable. Same deal.

Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00

4HL2K Sega

One great hockey game that suffers from only minor flaws
Great presentation of arcade boxing, but not deep enough to satisfy

Issue 5: May/Jun 00
Issue 2: Nov/Dec 99

At only $10 this card can't be beat. But no screen-no minigames.
Allows you to connect two Neo Geos together for multiplayer action.

Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00
Issue 5: May/Jun 00

READY 2 RUMBLE BOXING Midway

POWERUNK Nyko

RIPPIN’ RIDERS Sega

JUANTUM FIGHTER PAD Interact

Programmable and cool-looking, but its cumbersome shape blows.

Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00

STRIKER PRO 2000 Infogrames
SYDNEY 2000 Eidos

An adequate soccer sim with some severe gameplay problems
Track ’n’ field button masher, Olympics events that could’ve used tweakinj

Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00
Issue 8: Nov 00

RALLY WHEEL AGETEC
STAR FIRE UGHTBLASTER Interact

Lacks weight, balance and sturdiness, but has force feedback.
Excellent lightgun but not quite as good as the Mad Catz.

‘ng is complete crap. Do T i

Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00
Issue 4: Mar/Apr 00

Super deformed golfers ’tee-off to charm, but not to gameplay

Issue 5: May/Jun 00

THRUSTMASTER RACING WHEEL
THUNDER PAK Nyko

NNOVATION 4 MEGABYTE MEMORY CARD

Issue G. Jul/Aug 00

TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER Crave
VIRTUA ATHLETE 2KAgetec

Hands down the best skater ever! Go out and buy it, NOW!

A deeply flawed track ’n’ field title that looks great but plays terribly

Issue 6: Jul/Aug 00
Issue 8: Nov 00

This rumble pack accessory works, and that's all it has to do.

Like the Pelican card, but works a lot better. This is the one to get

Issue 5: May/Jun 00
Issue 7: Sep/Oct 00

104 Official #Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.DailyRadar.com

"If you get your ass kicked,

it's probably me on the
other end of the line."

- Fred Durst, SegalMet Member

The only high-speed online
console gaming network.

Jack in today.

The Gamers Destination

www. sega . net:

The SegaNet logo is a trademark of SEGA.com, Inc. and may not be used in whole or in part without the express written permission of SEGA.com.

CHEATS

THIS MONTH

NOAH MASSEY for the people

HUSH 2049
Aerowings 2

Wacky Races
Sega Bass Fishing
ESPN: Int’l Track & Field
Fur Fighters

Magforce Racing
NBA Showtime:

NBA on NBC 108

Cheat Menu

Man, is there a lot of hidden stuff in this
game! There are so many cheats, in fact,
that Midway has created a whole Cheat
Menu to list them. Getting to the Cheat
Menu itself also takes a cheat code, and
once it’s opened, all the cheats listed will
still remain locked. Here’s how you get the
Cheat Menu to appear: While on the Main
Menu, highlight Options and then press ^
+ ^ + © + O- The Cheat Menu option will

appear at the bottom of the screen, and
you can then select it like any other menu
item. Once inside the Cheat Menu, you'll
see a huge list of cheats for the game, but
none will be active. This code just unlocks
the Cheat Menu; it does not unlock any of
the cheats— but at least now you know
what cheats there are in the game.

Unlock Some Cheats

Now that you have the Cheat Menu
screen, you’re prob’ly anxious to try out
some of the cheats listed. We don’t have
them all for you (check future issues for
more) but we do have some— all of which
are really tricky to enter. You have to press
the button inputs smoothly and very
quickly, or else they won’t work. To enter a

cheat, you need to have the Cheat Menu
open and highlight the cheat you want to
enter. Then enter the proper button
sequence from the list below. The cheat
will become active if done correctly, and
you’ll be able to turn the cheat on and off.
It may take you several tries to get the
cheats to work, but keep at it.

Track Orientation

Highlight Track Orientation on the cheat
menu and then press and hold ^ + 0
and then press ©. Release the buttons,
then press ©, ©, © Press and hold ^ +
0 again and then press © again.

Super Tires

Highlight Super Tires on the cheat menu
and then press hold ^ while you press
©- ©, ©. Release ^ and then hold ^
and press ©, ©, ©

Brakes

*©©

Increase Car Mass

Invisible Track

Highlight Invisible Track on the cheat
menu and then press 0 , 0 , 0 .

Random Battle Mode Weapons

Highlight Random Weapons on the cheat
menu and then press and hold 4i + ©
and then press ©, ©. Release the
buttons and then press and hold ^ + ©
and quickly tap GO

ALL PARTS
RESURRECT IN PLACE
FRAME SCALE
TIRE SCALING
FOG COLOR
CAR COLLISIONS
CONG MINGS or r
CARMINES
TRACK ORIENTATION
AUTO-ABORT
SUPER SPEED Off
INVINCIBLE Off-
INVISIBLE CAR Off

Once you get the Cheat Menu open,
you’ll find that none of the cheats are
active. You’ll need individual codes to
enter on this screen to unlock the
different cheats.

CHEATS

SUPER SPEED

OFF

INVINCIBLE

OFF

INVISIBLE CAR

OFF-

INVISIBLE TRACK

OFF

BRAKES

SUPER TIRES

MASS

MASSIVE

SUICIDE MODE

OFF

BATTLE PAINTSHOP

OFF "

DEMOLITION BATTLE

OFF

RANDOM WEAPONS

/ /

ALLCARS

OFPw

ALL TRACKS

OFF

After cheats are activated, you can turn
them on and off at will— and some of

them will even allow you to change the
cheat’s actual value.

Toggle Demolition Battle Mode

Highlight Demolition Battle on the cheat
menu and press and hold 4i + © and
press ©, ©. Release the buttons, then
press and hold ^ + © and quickly press
©, ©. When Demolition Battle Mode is
active the Random Battle Mode will be
over-ridden and every pick will be the
battering ram so to defeat an opponent
you have to actually smash them with your
own car. Cool!

Unlock It All!

If you thought this game was
cool, wait until you unlock all
the planes! To do this without
beating all the missions, press
the 4J and © + © all at exactly
the same time on the Main Menu.

It may take several tries to get it
up, so listen for the audio cue
that lets you know that you were
successful. Once entered, you’ll
find that two more environments
open up (both in the snow), all
the planes are available and
that you can now play all of the
Fighter Pilot Missions.

1 FREE FLIGHT

iHMMiEina

Place:

Base C
Noon

Weather:

Snowy

; message; M?- 3/high maneuver

4 missiles/512 rounds

1ESS#GE| Northern fighter base. Also used as ;
civil ian airport.

The two bonus environments are located
somewhere really cold, like Alaska, and in
one of them, you get to fly in a snowstorm!

There are more planes hidden in the
game than are in the game to begin
with— and they are all killer, each with
their own unique handling
characteristics.

www.DailyRadar.com

Cheat Codes

I VmWiiU

The Wacky
Codes You Were
Looking For!

When a game has a
Cheat Menu, it’s not a
long stretch to assume
that there are cheats
out there to enter
into it out there
somewhere. Well, here
they are— and they
enable you to unlock
all the extra cars,
abilities, tracks and
even a capacity to
make the game more
difficult without having
to go through the entire thing. The
Cheat Menu is found in the main hub
area that you’re in right after you
choose your car, where all the different
levels branch off from. Just drive up to

As codes are entered, you can
see them listed on the Code
Collection screen and you can
turn them on and off at will.

Change Lure Color
In Original Mode

Here’s a little undocumented feature
that you may not have known about.
When playing in the Original Mode,
you can change the color of your
lure by pressing # or on your
controller while the lure is
highlighted. Unfortunately, the color
of the lure doesn’t effect the
outcome of
the game.

Play As The Girl
In Arcade Mode

You can play as fisherwoman in the
Original Mode, simply by selecting
her when prompted to choose a
character— but in Arcade, you’re
forced to play as the dude. What a
bummer! Well, Arcade Mode is no
longer a man's game. Now you can
play as the chick, by pressing the
oo buttons at the Arcade Mode
Area Selection Screen.

Wow, the same lure sporting a new
color scheme!

Arcade Mode is no longer a man's
game in Sega Bass Fishing!

Metallic Athletes

Don't you wish you could play as the cool
looking metallic character from the demo
modes within Konami’s International
Track And Field? Well, now you can, and
you get to try more colors than just the
metallic silver. By entering in names of

cities that have hosted the Summer
Olympic games, you can play as different
metallic athletes in any event. Just start
a game in Trial Mode and when
prompted to enter a name enter one of
the countries from the list below to get
the desired metallic color.

Drive up to the sign post on the hill in the center of
the main hub area once you’ve picked a car to find the
Cheat Menu.

the sign on top of the green hill in the
middle of the area and you’ll open a
menu. From this menu, select the
Cheats option from the bottom. Once
there, enter any of the following codes:

WACKYSPOILERS

All Cars

WACKYGIVEAWAY

All Challenges And Tracks

CRACKEDNAILS

Extra Hard Mode

BARGAINBASEMENT

All Abilities

Just enter names of cities that have
hosted the Summer Olympics into the
name entry screen in Trial Mode to
play as a metallic character.

Metallic Color

City Entered

Gold

MONTREAL

Silver

SYDNEY

Bronze

HELSINKI

Copper

ROMA

Cream

MOSCOW

Blue

L.A

Aluminum

MUNICH

Green

MEXICO

Red

TOKYO

Grey

ATHENS

Orange

ATLANTA

Purple

SEOUL

Mini-Game Cheats

As is the trend these days with hidden
extras in a game, Fur Fighters makes
you earn your cheats rather than
including straight codes to unlock
things. Therefore, the way you unlock
cheats is actually to play through the
game. Actually, you have to play the
Mini-Games which are unlocked as you
beat bosses. Once you open a Mini-
Game and start to play it you can
unlock secrets by meeting specific
requirements within the Mini-Game, like
beating the game within a certain time
or getting above a given amount of
points. Below, we’ve listed the cheat you
unlock, what the cheat does, which
Mini-Game you unlock it in, and the
requirements to meet to earn the secret.

Rotation Cam

Using a second
controller press
O to make the
camera spin
around player.

Snake

Classic

Earn 5,000 Points

Balloon Lift

Earn 10,000
points

Bear Attack

Earn 10,000 points

Super Snake

Earn 10,000
points

Bomber Bear

Earn 30,000 points

Boss Cheats

More cheats are unlocked by beating
the various bosses in the game a
second time

AutO Aim Boss: Gwynth

Locking on to enemies becomes
100% accurate

Health Boost Boss: Juanita

Have even more health the next time
you play through

Ammo Boost Boss: Claude

Get the max amount of ammo each time
you pick up a weapon

Paul's 3D Esmerelda

Apparently, if you cross your
eyes while this mode is on the
graphics appear 3D

Tough Bears

Boss: Winnie and Mai

Makes all the bears in the game
twice as tough to
beat

Invulnerable

Boss: Viggo

Never die again

Scrawners

Complete the maze
in the Temple Of
Doom

Makes animals in the
game really thin

Holiday 2000 Official dS' Dreamcast Magazine 107

Once the cheat to get it all is
entered, just enter the tripod
selection screen or the track
selection screen to check out all the
cool stuff you’ve been missing since
this game is so hard to play

ENTER YOUR NAME

B C D E F G H
I J K L M N G P
Q R sHu y wx
Y Z DEL V END

Basically all you have to do is finish a
race— you can even finish last and
still be able to enter a name into the
High Score screen. When you do get
there, enter GHOST as your name to
get transparent
tripod thingies -

Magforce

Racing has some of
the coolest cheats
out there: our
favorite Is the Be
Joh Malkovich
cheat.

108 Official # Dreamcast Magazine Holiday 2000

www.DailyRadar.com

Cheat Codes

Hidden Characters

All of the following are
hidden characters as which
you can play. To get them to
appear, enter the name and
PIN number from the list
below into he enter name
and PIN screen.

Big alien

Kerri (female)

Old man

Small alien

BIGGY

KERRI

OLDMAN

SMALLS

0958

0220

2001

0856

Chad Edmunds

Kerri in alt.

Pinto Horse

Tim Kitzrow

CHAD

uniform

PINTO

TIMK

0628

KERRI

1966

7785

1111

Pumpkin

White horse

Clown

JACKO

HORSE

CRISPY

Lia (female)

1031

1966

2084

LIA

0712

Referee

Willy Morris

Greg Cutler

THEREF

WIL

CUTLER

Lia in alt. uniform

7777

0101

1111

LIA

1111

Retro Rob

Wizard

Isiah Thomas

RETRO

THEWIZ

THOMAS

Nikko dog

1970

1136

1111

NIKKO

6666

Shawn Liptak

LIPTAK

0114

Mascots

Not only are there some goofy hidden
characters to play as but you can also
play as any of the mascots from the
NBA. To choose to play as one of your
favorite mascots just look up the team
their from on the list below and enter
the name and PIN listed next to it into
the name entry screen.

Atlanta Hawks

Denver Nuggets

Minnesota

Seattle Sonics

HAWK

ROCKY

Timberwolves

SASOUA

0322

0201

CRUNCH

0503

7785

Charlotte Hornets

Houston Rockets

Toronto Raptors

HORNET

TURBO

New Jersey Nets

RAPTOR

1105

1111

SLY

6765

1020

Chicago Bulls

Indiana Pacers

Utah Jazz

BENNY

BOOMER

Phoenix Suns

BEAR

0503

0604

GORILA

0314

1228

Magnetic Cheats

If you are looking for
all the cheats to this
unusual racer then
you’ve come to the
right place. First of
all we’ve got the
code to unlock
everything and then
once you’ve gotten
a chance to check
out everything in
the game you'll have
to try one of the
gameplay codes
which will add a
twist to the game.

AU Tracks
And Tripods

To unlock everything in the game just
go to the Main Menu and highlight the
Tripod Select Option. Now press and
hold O + O and then press
0 , Now just enter the

game and if you entered the code right
you should have the entire game
spread wide open before you.

Gameplay Cheats

To enter the following cheats which
will make your racing experience a bit
more interesting, you must first reach
the High Score screen by earning a
high score on any track using any
tripod. Then enter one of the cheats
below to get the desired result. Getting
a high score shouldn’t be too tough
unless you’ve gone through and set
amazing scores for all the tracks
already. You don’t need to come in first
to get a high score. The cheat will only
affect your next race if you select the
race Restart option right after you
enter the cheat into the high score
screen. If you return to the Main Menu,
the cheat will be reset.

RETRO 8bit Sound Effect
Sound effects will sound like they
came out of an old 8bit game.

AUTOM Auto Pilot Turbo Ram
Whenever you activate the Turbo Ram
the computer will take over and keep
you from running into the wall.

JOHNM Become John Malkovich
Renames menu items and weapons
Malkovich.

GHOST Transparent Tripods

Makes all tripods and weapon pick-ups

transparent.

MISSI Triple Missile Pick-Ups
Every pick-up in the game becomes
a Triple Missile.

TURBO Turbo Ram Pick-Ups
Every pick-up in the game becomes
a Turbo Ram.

• Sleep

• Any semblance of personal hygiene

• All pigment in your skin

• The use of your lower extremities

• The love of your pets

• The remainder of your youth

• The interest in anything that isn't pixilated

• The loving touch of anything that lives and breathes

• Your grip on reality

That’s a fair trade.

Hollywood Video® is giving away 3 Dreamcast deluxe packages. Enter automatically
with every game rental visit. Or you can enter at www.hollywoodvideo.com.

Package includes a new Dreamcast system and 2 new release games.

\ VS ✓

HOLLYWOOD

See our website for complete official rules. Winners drawn Monday, January 8, 2001 .

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS
OVER FOR SOME

PLAY.

...a great
party game!”

- Next Gen

is the future of
fighting games!”

- Game Fan

Sega

Dreamcast.

@WBcom

WWW.CAPCOM.COM

© CAPCOM CO., LTD. 2000. © CAPCOM U.S.A., INC. 2000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAPCOM and the CAPCOM LOGO are registered trademarks of CAPCOM CO., LTD. POWERSTONE 2 and CAPCOM EDGE are trademarks of CAPCOM CO., LTD.
Sega, Dreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Sega Enterprises, Ltd. The ratings icon Is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association.

EDITORIAL

DCMag@lmaginemedla.com

ADVERTISING

415.468.4684 xlOO fax 415.468.4686
email: Jmitchell@imaglnemedla.com

SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES

Customer Service
P.O. Box 52850
Boulder CO 80322

email custserv@dreamcastmagazlne.com

http://service.imaginemedia.com/support/dc/index.html

REPRINTS 717.481.8500

ODCM REGULARS

Chris Charla editor-in-chief
Dan Fitzpatrick married.

Dina Fayer managing editor
Francesca Reyes senior editor
Dave-san Cordon associate art director
Evan Shamoon associate editor
Chrlstophe Kagotani japan correspondent

SUPPORTING CAST/EDITORIAL

Eric Bratcher. David Chen, Max Everingham, Blake
Fischer, Brandon Justice, Noah Massey, Greg
Orlando, Jim Preston, Rob Smolka
COVER ART Illustration by Youshi Kanoe/©2000
GameArts Co., Ltd.

GUEST STARS/DESIGN Eric Smith, Gerry Serrano,
Dave Zigany

ILLUSTRATIONS/GENIUSES Naska (“chal") C., FSC
PHOTOGRAPHY Mark Madeo, Michael Sexton

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

What’s your favorite food?

Dan: Quarter Pounder with Cheese. I
once ate one every day for three weeks.
Dina: Anything orange.

Fran: Healing herbs. Not.

Chris: The Captain’s Sampler Platter.
Evan: A Korean vegetable dish called
Bimbimbop. I think.

Dave: Chicken. I have seven chicken
cookbooks, you know.

ADVERTISING

Doug Faust publisher

Ayrlen Houchin regional advertising manager
Jim Mitchell regional advertising manager
Tim Kennedy regional advertising manager
Megan Fischer ad coordinator
Tiffany Song sales coordinator

PRODUCTION

Richard Lesovoy production director
Glenn Sadln production coordinator

Next Issue A

As good as it gets!

PHANTASY STAR ONLINE! m

Issue #11 with GD-ROM
On sale December 26th!

CIRCULATION

Amy Nlbbl subscription director
Jonathan Venler newsstand marketing manager
Janet Amlstoso direct marketing specialist
Peggy Mores fulfillment manager
INTERNATIONAL LICENSING REPRESENTATIVE
Robert J. Abramson and Associates, Inc.

720 Post Road, Scarsdale New York 10583

It’s on its way to the US— and we have the
lowdown on what the game’s all about, straight
from Yuji Naka. Prepare to read our in-depth
review on the first console online RPG ever!

: Magazine (ISSN 1525-1764) is published bimonthly by
, 150 North Hill Drive. Brisbane, CA 94005, USA. Application

REVIEW OVERLOAD, PT.2 !

You've got cash to spare from the holidays and
scads of games ready to exchange, but which
titles are worth the investment? Look no further
than one hella super jam-packed review section
in our next issue!

. . . And morel!

•Toe Jam & Earl 3 Revealed!

• New NAOMI 2 games! coon
•Secret Sega titles Exposed!
•Forbidden Games Explored!

i of groups

*Miss it and forever be damned to a life full of bad licensed games. Content
(but not quality) of issue subject to change due to Halo Halo contents.

in perfect English by someone who goes only
by F Sc. Within days, brilliant renditions of
game characters and Christmas scenes
begin flooding our FTP server.

playing under her belt. Dave is nearly dead
from putting the mag out by himself.

Chris, despite having played the 24 hours
of Le Mans by himself already, is
suggesting we all play it for 24 hours
again, anyway. And Evan? Evan keeps

imagine

PLANET HARRIER

ulure

Oops! We made a mistake in calling Crave’s upcoming jetski

title Surf Rocket Rider, instead of its real name: Surf Rocket

Racer in ODCM Issue 09. Sorry! ,, L . __

Holiday 201

DO Official Dreamcast Maaazine 111

• •

As the grumpidy Grinch, your IttlSSlOh is clear.
to Slime, Stomp and Smash everything far and near.

With Gizmos and Gadgets , a heart that’s too small
Disrupt all in Whoville , from short Whos to tall.

And why should your grinchity ways bring sue h pride?
For that warm, fuzzy feeling it gives you inside.

Comic Mischief

($ Dreamcast: Color

4 -

PlayStation

"The Grinch" interactive game © 2000 Universal Interactive Studios, Inc. Based on "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" book and characters™ & © Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. 1957. Licensed by Universal
Studios Licensing, Inc. Published and distributed by Konami Corporation. All Rights Reserved. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sega,
Dreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Sega Enterprises, LTD. Game Boy and Game Boy Color are trademarks of Nintendo of America Inc. © 1 989, 1 998
Nintendo of America Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. Konami® is a registered trademark of Konami Co., LTD. © 2000 Konami.

/*Tn

UNIVERSAL

UNIVERSAL
INTERACTIVE STUDIOS

www.unlvBrealjtuilios.com

WKKMmrnmm

Street Fighter® fans every-

© CAPCOM CO., LTD. 2000 © CAPCOM U.S.A., INC. 2000 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAPCOM and the CAPCOM LOGO are registered trademarks of CAPCOM CO., LTD. STREET FIGHTER is a registered trademark of CAPCOM CO., LTO. STREET FIGHTER III: DOUBLE IMPACT and
CAPCOM EDGE are trademarks of CAPCOM CO., LTO. © CAPCOM CO.. LTO. 2000. Sega, Dreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Sega Enterprises. LTD. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association.

where get a double-dose of double-trouble
with Street Fighter III: Double Impact.

This explosive street brawl for the Sega
Dreamcast contains TWO arcade hits on one disc - Street Fighter III:

New Generation and Street Fighter III: Second Impact Loaded with anew MgQ&fe
legion of fighters, Street Fighter III: Double Impact is double dynamite! itsSESsat

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